As always, Grammarly was my beta, but this will probably be actually beta'd at some point. Any mistakes are my own. This story is quickly nearly completion, maybe just two, or possibly three more chapters. If you were expecting a lot of smut in this story, I'd like to tell you now that there won't be hardcore smut scenes, but possibly a couple of heavy scenes.

Thank you for reading! I'm really excited to wrap this up and start posting my new dramione.

Possible warning: Discussions of war, and violence in this chapter.

He traced the scar running along her arm, one from a branch while she was running through the Forest of Dean a year previously. Her breath caught in her throat as her head fell to the side, and she laid on his bed in silence. There was a look of adoration on his face as he traced the faint scars along her arms, his fingers moving between them, between the freckles on her forearms, and all the way to her shoulder.

Draco didn't turn her arm over, most likely because he knew exactly what he would find. Hermione said nothing-there were no words that were good enough, she found-but she watched him closely.

Slowly, he pressed a kiss to her shoulder, to the small scar that she knew was there. "What's this from?" He whispered against her skin.

She was shaking. He'd left her enough room to escape if she wanted. The only frightening thing was how much she didn't want to escape. Her mind was reeling, knowing they had quickly gone from snogging like they would never have another chance to quite literally sharing scars.

It was three in the morning and she'd never felt more awake in her life. Not since the war, not since she was expecting a Death Eater to tear down their wards every night.

Swallowing, Hermione murmured, "I ran with scissors when I was for years old. My mum didn't know I had them until she heard me screaming in the playroom."

He chuckled. "Scissors?"

Hermione explained it the best she could, but given his reaction, Draco didn't understand why anyone would have scissors in their home, especially when it was basically two blades. "I also gave myself a terrible haircut too."

His free hand rose to her hair, twisting locks of hair around his finger. "What did it look like?"

She took his hand, lifting it to just above her ear, mistakenly yanking her hair in the process. "Well, it was this short all the way around."

His eyes widened. "Never cut it that short again?"

"Are you kidding? It looks like a right disaster when your hair is as curly as mine." Hermione laughed. She rolled onto her side, her body mirroring his. "We should sleep."

Draco propped his head up with his hand, his other hand resting on her hip. His finger hooked through the loop on her jeans and he tugged her closer. It didn't work, but she slid closer to him. Her knees knocked against his as he peered down at her. "I'm not particularly tired."

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, well, that's probably because I'm here."

"Conceited, Granger?"

The blankets were bunched beneath them. She lifted her chin. "No, I just think you'd fall asleep if I left."

His knuckles brushed her chin as he lifted her head. "What if I don't want you to leave though? What then?"

She could hear her heartbeat between her ears, could feel the fierce blush creeping up her cheeks. "I'd probably ask why you felt that way, might not stay if you didn't give me an answer."

He smirked, ducking his head down. All of their moments spent together, all of them up to then, couldn't have prepared her for how playful he could be. Draco surely heard her swallow as he pressed his lips to hers, his fingers sinking into her hair again. "Still need an answer?"

Managing a nod, Hermione didn't give him the chance to answer as she slid her palms up his chest. His lips slanted against hers as he rolled on top of her, bracing his elbows against the mattress on either side of her head, his knee planted firmly between her knees. Her breaths came in short pants as her nails bit into his shoulders through his jumper.

By the time they parted, she wanted to pull him into her once more. "Because I want you here," Draco rasped. "It's as simple as that."

Balancing herself on her elbows as she propped herself up, Hermione stared at him. "Others are sure to talk if I leave your room in the morning, you know."

He arched a brow. "Do you care about that?"

She exhaled a sharp breath, her bangs flying up as she did so. "Of course not, but I'm not the one who's been fighting this since last week."

"I've been fighting this for longer than just a week," he muttered. "To be completely bloody honest, I've been fighting any feelings beyond animosity since I noticed you wear your heart on your sleeve."

Wide-eyed, Hermione didn't get the chance to ask how long it had been.

Draco sat up, crossing his legs as he ran his fingers to his already tousled hair. "I know that you'll ask, but I don't know when I noticed it."

"Try?"

"Looking for validation?"

Her nose crinkled at that, and she nearly called him cruel for his tone. "No," Hermione replied, pulling on a stray string of the blanket, "Just wondering if it was the same time as me is all."

The room was dark around them as it had been for several hours, only lit by the small lamp in the corner of the room. He looked to her, and then away, a total of six times before he gave her an answer. "You're too forgiving. I knew it from the second you gave me a second glance." He spoke without looking at her. "I didn't expect this, but I appreciated the way you looked at me."

She tilted her head to the side. "You're no monster."

A heavy silence fell, and all of his playfulness vanished. His shoulders tensed. "That's a matter of opinion."

Hermione shrugged her shoulders. "I can't sit here and tell you that you're wrong. Granted, I made a charm that would alert me if you did perform any horrible misdeeds, but I know you better than I did then."

He snorted.

"And you saved my life," Hermione said clearly, letting her hands fall to her lap.

"I ended more than a few as well."

She didn't pull her gaze away from him as she nodded. "I know you did. It doesn't change my mind. I've known all along, Draco."

Considering the way his eyes hardened when he looked to her, Draco hadn't forgotten the file the Ministry had released to her. "I watched Burbage die without batting an eye."

She knew about it, had known since a lazy morning spent in the sunlight streaming through a window of the Burrow. "I know."

"When the Carrows were wreaking havoc across Hogwarts, there were revels still. They pulled me along to them, pushed me into the thick of it. At one of them, a newly marked Death Eater couldn't rape a muggle girl. Do you know what happened to him?"

She did.

"He was flayed alive. Do you know who did it?" Draco snarled, ripping his eyes away from her.

"I know." Hermione breathed. She wasn't at all sure how he would react to her knowing the worst parts of him, the things he should have been allowed to bury. "I've known since I met you in the Leaky Cauldron."

He shook his head. "You should have run the other way, but instead you're here, with me." Draco stared at her then, his eyes dropping to her bruised lips,

"Don't try to convince me to leave, Draco. It won't work." Hermione sighed. "I'm not going anywhere, no matter what you tell me." She swung her legs over the side of the bed, rising to her feet. Her heart clenched as his face fell, likely believing she was leaving anyway. Extending a hand, she murmured, "Come on. Let's go for a walk."

He grasped her hand with a heavy sigh and followed her out the door. "You're disgustingly positive."

Her head tipped back as she laughed quietly. "One of us has to be to make up for your doom and gloom," Hermione teased. "A new nickname, perhaps?"

Draco scowled.

They walked down to the Great Lake, Hermione kneeling down and picking out a pebble along the shore. She threw the first stone, and he watched from her side as it skipped four times across the surface of the water. "You try." She pressed a stone into the middle of his palm and stepped away from him.

He managed to make it skip twice.

"I have nightmares still." Hermione kicked a stone into the shoreline as she didn't look up. "I know that they're nothing compared to what you were forced through, but if we're sharing…"

Surprised was etched into his features, but he nodded. "How did you get through it, the war, I mean? You were on the run."

Hermione stared at the water as it swayed beneath the moon. "There wasn't a choice. I had to either compartmentalize, or I was likely to die. It was always about keeping Harry alive, but also ourselves. If I stopped to think about how the world was shite, or how it wasn't fair, I'm not sure I could have kept going."

His fingers traced her spine, a silent reminder that he was still there, still listening.

"Wearing a Horcrux didn't help matters. I didn't think about it, because I couldn't think about it. It was an unhealthy way to handle things, and I only realised after the war how close I constantly was to a mental break."

He skipped the stone seven times following her words, and he cast a look her way. "Think you can do better?"

She knelt down and grabbed a stone. "How did you get through it?"

"The war?" He asked.

Hermione nodded.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Draco bite his bottom lip hard. "Sex."

She gave pause at that, looking at him in surprise. "Huh, can't say I ever thought about using that." Hermione laughed, throwing her stone. Five times. "Did it work for you at least?"

"Not for long after, no, but during was a nice reprieve," Draco said quietly. "I wasn't sure if you'd mind hearing it, but you asked."

Rolling her eyes, a repeated action by then, Hermione shook her head. "I don't care. If that's what helped you, then it's what helped you." She threw another stone, still only coming in at six skips. "I'm not going to sleep until I beat you."

He stared at her. "Come here." Draco held her by her hips, pulling her in and kissing her roughly.

It was inevitable that she leaned into him, letting her rock fall from her grip as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "What-" Hermione squeaked as he scooped her up, wrapping her legs around his waist.

"Fancy a midnight swim?"

"Don't you dare!"

"Live a little, Granger," Draco retorted before throwing her right into the water. He joined her quickly after, pulling her close as she splashed him, kissing her hard and silencing anything else she had to say.

Following what had been a long snog in the middle of the cold water of the Great Lake, and articles of clothing having nearly been discarded, Hermione and Draco had returned to their own rooms. He'd offered for her to sleep in his bed with a smirk that told her she might not get any sleep at all.

So she'd slept in her own bed while attempting to soothe her rapid heartbeat, knowing that their relationship had completely changed. As she laid in bed, she was confronted with the knowledge of a few things. Lisa was going to tease her relentlessly, and Hermione might never live it down. All things considered, it wasn't so bad. Another thought was that she should give Henry, and the other children something as a thank you for forcing her hand.

The last thing was the fact that she'd need to tell Ron and Harry eventually. She didn't imagine the news would go well. How could it? Swallowing as she crawled out of bed, Hermione resolved to tell them soon, but not before she knew what was going on between the two of them. Their relationship had irrevocably shifted, but Hermione still worried Draco would return to his silence and avoiding her.

She dressed in denim shorts, and a thin shirt before pulling a jacket over her arms. At this point in the summer, they were playing all of their activities by ear. In the beginning, their planning had been to push children together, to hopefully help them make friends. Now that exactly that had happened, it was easier to let them guide the days now.

Letting her door close softly behind her, Hermione made her way down the steps. Lisa and Padma were already seated across from Hannah and Michael at the table, breakfast in front of all of them.

Oliver sat in a patch of dirt while in the middle of a game of Exploding Snap with Olivia. Adelaide, Henry, and Isobel sat beside them, balancing their plates on their knees as they shovelled their breakfast into their mouths.

There were heavy footfalls behind her, and then a hand slipping into her own before she could turn around. Hermione's head snapped up, her eyes widening as Draco smirked. His thumb brushed across her knuckles, and he tilted his head toward the table. "Surprised?"

Hermione nodded, staring down at their conjoined hands. "I thought you would want to keep it a secret is all." His fingers fit between the gaps of hers perfectly. "You took me by surprise." She glanced at the ground, her cheeks colouring as several thoughts went through her mind, but her thoughts came to a screeching halt.

"Finally!" Hermione didn't recognise the voice, not at first, but she looked over her shoulder. Isobel grinned ear to ear, her notebook forgotten on the ground as she looked from Hermione to Draco.

"You talked," Hermione choked.

Isobel's voice was hoarse, but she still bounded over to Hermione. "We thought you would never get it together. I was going to lock you in a cabin." She continued flippantly, her voice raw as she looked at the fellow counsellors.

Hermione dropped Draco's hand, throwing her arms around Isobel and pulling her into a tight hug. "It's so good to hear your voice." Her voice was muffled against Isobel's hair, and the only sign the girl had heard it at all was her tightening fingers in the back of Hermione's jacket.

Hermione's shriek was heard throughout the entire camp, inducing the laughter of those around her, as Draco threw her off the dock and into the Great Lake. She surfaced quickly, her hair matted by the cool water, and she glared at him. Hermione would have mentioned how throwing her in the lake twice in a twelve hour period was overdoing it, but no one else truly needed to know how they had spent the night.

Draco dove in immediately after her, hooking an arm around her waist and dragging her further into the water. "Stop kicking me!" He growled, nipping her earlobe.

"Stop dragging me farther out then," she muttered. Hermione tried to wiggle free but was unsuccessful as he locked an arm around her waist, and kept her close to his chest. "You're going to get us eaten by the Giant Squid."

"You worry too much."

Something brushed against her leg. Hermione squeaked, tightening her arms around his neck, and raising herself to wrap her legs around his waist. "Something went past my leg."

He sniggered. "Are you sure it's not just because you haven't shaved your legs?"

Hermione glared. "I have shaved my legs, you tremendous prat, but thanks for asking. Why did you pull us out here anyway?"

He shrugged. "Do you want to be subjected to questions of how this happened? Padma is already asking, and she doesn't accept no for an answer."

Far away from them, children were dunking one another. The witch in question smiled at them from her spot on the shore before looking away and whispering to Lisa.

"I don't mind," Hermione said, her fingers brushing against the nape of his neck. "I'm just not sure what I'm going to tell Lisa. It's not as if there's an official title-"

Draco snorted. "Girlfriend," he murmured, turning them so no one could see him press his lips to her collarbone. "If you're willing."

She sucked in a breath. It was July, well, the end of July and Ron had broken up with her nearly seven weeks ago if she counted. Tiny worries of whether it was too soon, too-

"You can say no if you're not sure. It's not going to ruin anything between us while you figure it out." Draco cleared his throat, watching her closely with wide eyes. "It might wound my pride, but I have enough pride that I can withstand a beating."

"There's nothing to figure out." Hermione breathed, noticing how he tensed below her touch, likely assuming a rejection was coming. "I was worried about...it's not important right now. I'd like that." She pressed a soft kiss to his temple, threading her fingers through his hair. "Who would have thought?"

"Not me," he murmured, "but I'd hoped."

Please leave your thoughts if you feel so inclined. Until the next chapter!