Draco's POV

"That was definitely not how I expected to spend our first morning together." I muttered, ignoring the blush that had, again, spread across Hermione's face. "What?" I asked when she couldn't look me in the eye.

"This changes everything doesn't it?" she whispered.

I thought back to what had been said for her to think that, and I felt my chest swell up when I remembered that she had told Potter that she loved me. I smiled at her.

"Only if you want it to," I said to her. She looked a little better, and the blush finally went away.

"I know there is something here. I can't deny that I feel drawn to you, and judging by how you've been acting, you feel it too. But...I believe that we should start small, slowly build our way up to where we want to be. I'm still scared of serious relationships... I need to let go of the fear before getting into that with you. I don't ever want to be afraid of you Draco."

"Will you tell me what you're afraid of, Hermione?" I grabbed her hand, and she let me lead her to the couch. She shook her head at me. I put a finger under her chin, lifting her head so she would look me in the eyes.

"I want children someday Draco. The fact that I can't have them scares me. What if who I end up in a serious relationship wants that too? What if I accidentally get pregnant, and the same thing happens? When it happened with Ron, he wouldn't look at me for 2 months before we mutually decided that we shouldn't be together. He wanted kids more than he wanted me. And I had taken that away from him. What if it happens again? I don't want to feel that again, I don't want to have to go through it again." I mentally slapped myself when she started crying.

"If we go slowly, Hermione, we can figure things out as we go. I promise that I won't be what Weasley was. I promise that I will always here for you. I can't promise that I won't hurt you, but I can promise that you will always be first in my mind. You always have been." I pulled her into my arms and held her small, and shaking form. I let her cry her pain, and uncertainty away. I knew she needed it, and probably has for a while. She's been alone for too long, dealing with everything completely on her own. No one for her, no one to help her shoulder the pain that she felt on a daily basis. I vowed that I would never let her go it alone again. Never let her build her pain up to the point that it drowned her.

Hermione POV

My first thought when he showed up with a trunk dragged behind him at my doorstep was...What was going on? But when he smiled at me and pulled his trunk inside, I couldn't tell if I felt violated or relieved.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"For the duration of the week, I want to test something. And I need you to cooperate. I know I haven't told you, but if I did you would have said no right away." He told me. I raised my eyebrow. "I would like for you to allow me to live here. Just for the week," he amended when he saw my look of utter shock.

"Don't you think it's a bit soon for the "moving in" stage? We haven't officially dated, and you can't sleep on my couch the entire time...And I'm not sure if I'm ready to have you in my bed for an entire week without doing anything."

"I almost expected you to have a spare bedroom," he chuckled.

"What used to be the spare bedroom has served as a potions lab for the last year. My current bedroom was my parent's, and my old room is my library."

"Are you telling me no?" he asked, disappointed, like his little experiment failed already.

"Don't put words in my mouth." I scolded him. He almost grinned at that, looking utterly relieved. "I do have some concerns on where you will sleep though."

"Well, how about this. For tonight, I sleep on the couch, as you said. And tomorrow, we'll rearrange the library, don't give me that look, I won't take anything out or damage any of your precious lifelines. I'll just make enough room for a bed to fit in there, and then I'll go out and buy a bed." Sounded fine to me so I just nodded.

"But," I held up a finger. "I will be the one doing the rearranging." He rolled his eyes. "They are not my lifeline, ok? I just like my privacy."

"Why, Ms. Granger, are you keeping secrets from me?" he teased.

I fidgeted. "A little..." I whispered. He looked taken aback. I knew he was teasing, but there were things in that library, in that room I didn't want him seeing. Maybe someday I would tell him, but for right now...I couldn't. "Now. I have things I need to do, and so do you. I need to get groceries, and you need to get yourself acquainted with muggle London so you can get yourself a bed." and with that I walked upstairs to put something other than my night clothes on. I didn't bother changing out of them when he was here. It was nothing he hadn't seen before, plus even with so little privacy under his gaze, he still respected me enough to not do anything stupid. I could take the looks. I loved the fact that he couldn't keep his gaze from traveling to me. It made me feel almost pretty and irresistible Even if I knew the truth.