a/n: Thanks so much to all my followers and reviewers so far. You guys are great and what keep me writing! Hope the scenes haven't been to much. I don't want to move the story to slow, but don't want to move it to fast either!
I do not own harry potter.
Chapter Six.
It had been several weeks since that night in Draco's common room. Nothing happened between the two of them apart from the chat they had and deciding the best thing for them was taking whatever they had, slow. They needed to see what this was. Harry and Ron still didn't know, which was driving Ginny insane. She didn't like not being able to tell him something, since they told each other everything.
Hermione begged for her to not let this slip. Why tell him something when she wasn't sure what was happening either. She didn't think Draco or her was ready for anyone else to know yet. They both had gone through some much throughout the last few years that they wanted to try to keep things as simple as they could for themselves. The other Slytherins had basically shunned Draco after the war and if the Gryffindors found out he was after the Gryffindor Princess he had a fear they would be coming after him too.
It wasn't that he was afraid of the other students around him. It was the fact that what was happening between Hermione and him, it helped keep him calm. He could focus and sleep better again. He had been the cause of so much pain throughout her life since starting Hogwarts, that he knew he would never deserve anything from her but no matter what he had done she could still see there was some good in him. Or maybe she had helped to bring that out in him for others to see.
Now, they sat together outside, near the Black Lake where they first met and talked.
"So what now?" asked Draco, after he listened to Hermione ramble on about Ginny and how she still wasn't sure of the friendship and whatever it was that Harry and Ron needed to know.
"I don't know? She is right. Harry and Ron are my best friends, they deserve to know. I wouldn't want them to keep something like this from me." Hermione stopped pacing and stared at Draco in complete shock.
"What?! What just happened?" asked Draco, seeing the fearful look in her eyes.
"Harry. He might know, he's asked me a few times where I have been and I always just say the library, studying."
"All right, but how would that make him know you're with me?"
"You don't understand. Harry has a map that covers the entire school. It shows every corner, corridor and room. It also shows the location of every being at Hogwarts and where they are throughout the school."
Hermione couldn't tell if Draco was impressed or in sudden fear like herself.
"That sounds very useful and like an incredible map! I would love to see that one day. Don't you think he would have said something if he had noticed you've been meeting me?"
"I don't know, maybe not if he is waiting for me to say something."
Hermione huffed, suddenly afraid to meet with her best friends later. Of course Ginny knew. She wasn't sure she would have been able to keep this a secret from her for long. There were things she had needed to talk about, how to figure through them and what she thought Draco may have been feeling. She watched the blonde hair boy, sit in the rocks, staring off at the Black Lake. He looked so peaceful and lost in thought.
They both enjoyed their little meetings they had outside of the school, even if it was chilly outside, it was nice to be able to get out of the walls of Hogwarts and not have to look around every corner before the walked through.
"I have to tell them eventually." said Hermione, while Draco grabbed her hand and laced his fingers with hers, he kissed the top of her hand and stood up from the ground and pulled her up with him.
"I just don't want something to happen because of me. I've done enough damage throughout the years to the Golden Trio."
"Draco, they may forgive you if you would at least try to give them a chance. They surprise me every day."
He snorted, "Why, because they might be smarter then a troll?"
She let go of his hand and crossed them against her chest. "Comments like that are not going to help you win a friendship with them." he rolled his eyes. "It's just.. It's Potter and Weasel. What about the Weaselette?"
"Draco." snapped Hermione. "Stop calling them names. What about Ginny?"
"She knows of us and still doesn't exacty approve."
"Don't you recall the name calling? The hexes to Harry?"
"That isn't fair, Potter threw them at me too. If you don't recall he did slice my chest open and I nearly bled to death on the bathroom floor!"
"I'm not saying what he did was right either!"
"No, but they aren't going to be able to point fingers completely at me without a few at them either."
"I know that, but you have to understand-" but Draco cut her off before she could finish.
"Understand that I did try to save you at the Manor. I couldn't think of any other way without us all being killed like I had told you before. I tried to lie by saying I didn't recognize you to buy enough time to get you away from there. If you were killed the war would've never ended. I would have never escaped!"
Hermione flinched, seeing the anger building in Draco. He was always looked at as the bad person and until recently she had looked at him in the same way without thinking twice over it. The way he must have been treated, the way it must have been with the Dark Lord living with him and him having to fear walking through his very own home.
"You don't need to yell at me, Draco. I understand."
"I don't think you do understand!" his voice was rising, the more he spoke and Hermione couldn't handle it any longer.
"All right, I'm going to walk back to the school now." she snapped, not going to allow anyone to speak to her this way.
"Wait, please." he grabbed her hand in both of his, holding on tight not wanting her to leave him. "I never say this, but I'm sorry. Please forgive me. I didn't mean to yell at you."
"Yes, you shouldn't have yelled at me. This is only your fault for the way others look at you. You need to understand that the reason Ginny thinks the way she does is because I am her best friend, Harry is her boyfriend and Ron is her brother. Of course she is going to be protective over us. Don't under estimate her. Along with when Harry attacked you, it was because if I recall correctly, you went with the first cast! You are changing, Draco. I see so much of it already. You are becoming such a wonderful person and I love that, but I won't let you talk like that to me. You have to understand that. I let you for longer than I should have in the past. You need to learn to control your anger."
He wrapped her words around his brain. 'and I love that' was sticking to him. Was she admitting she was loving him? He knew she was right. If he had better friends then he had while growing up, he could have been more understanding over it. True friends are supportive and protective over one another. The only people Draco ever thought that way of were Blaise and now Hermione.
The only thing Draco felt most of his life was anger. Anger for the way he was brought us and how false it had been, Angry for the way his father treated him, angry for the way his mother had let it happen. Lastly, angry that every time he had looked at Harry Potter, it seemed that he had everything that Draco didn't have.
"I've had so much anger built inside of me that when it does come out, I have so many problems controlling it. Do you really think that I am changing? I just want to change for the better. Hermione, I didn't even know what happiness truly felt like while I was growing up."
she felt so much pain for him, that she only wanted to cry for him.
"I really think you are. I'm so sorry, Draco. You didn't even get a childhood like you should have." she pulled him into a tight hug, not wanting to let him go as she inhaled her favorite scent. He smelled so good, she could just get lost. "Draco, you'll find it. You'll find happiness once you let yourself begin to heal." she whispered, still hugging onto him.
His eyes were closed, as he too, inhaled her scent. The smirk he often had on his lips, going into a soft smile.
"I've already started finding my happiness." he whispered in her ear.
"Oh, what's that?"
"You."
She trembled, pulling away enough to be able to stare right into those grey eyes, that looked back at her, filled with determination and love.
"What?" she asked, a shiver going travelling down her spine. "Why me?"
"You've made me feel more alive then I ever have. When I'm with you I feel happy and content with myself. I find myself wanting to spend time with you and when I am with you I don't want the moment to end. Someone needs to remind you everyday how wonderful of a witch you truly are."
Hermione shivered, fighting the sudden urge to want to cry.
"Are you getting cold? Lets walk back to the school."
He put his arms around her shoulder and began to walk back to the school. They were quiet as they walked closer to the entrance of the school. They had their first argument since becoming friends, and some how it had ended the way it did and neither one of them knew what to say. Hermione was left speechless, unsure of what to say. She loved the thought of someone wanting to spend time with her, telling her those things. Wanting to make her happy every day? She couldn't fathom the thought he would want to tell her those things.
"Did you really mean you love the person I am becoming earlier?" asked Draco, quietly as they continued to walk. Hermione looked up to the tall boy, he wasn't so much a boy any more as he was more of a man, his firm arm still around her helping keeping warm as they continued to walk toward the school. He had slowed their walk down, wanting to have as much time together before walking into those doors.
When Hermione didn't answer, he had stopped walking to be able to look to her, waiting for an answer. Any answer. he didn't know if he cared what he had heard, he just wanted to know that she thought he was changing and that things weren't to late for him and he could have hope.
"Yes, I do mean it."
Draco wanted to kiss her, pull her away from view, and take over her body. He wanted to kiss her in every spot he could get himself on, see the pink on her cheeks form as he told her how beautiful she was. He just didn't know when the time was right. When had he ever been so nervous over someone before? Making the first move, he had never cared as much as he had now. He took his hands and brushed the curly hair away from her face as he cupped her face once more, his favorite thing to do as she stared at him as if he was the only thing she was able to see. Her pulse was rushing, hoping that this was a moment that she had been wanting and waiting for.
"I hope I don't disappoint you."
Why hasn't she kissed me?
Why won't he just kiss me?
They stared at each other, both looking at one another as if begging the other to make the first move, but nothing happened.
"Lets get you inside, before you freeze."
Hermione laid in her bed, huffing at herself over the fact that she still hadn't managed to get the courage to do anything. Merlin sake! Over the many things she had battled and faced, she couldn't get the courage to kiss someone. What was the matter with her? She knew she was frightened, especially over anything more than just a kiss. The dream constantly came back into her mind, although it had only been the one dream with Draco, she was still disappointed that it had only been a dream.
"Hermione?" asked Ginny, peeking her head through the door to see if the other girl was in there.
"Yes?" asked Hermione, raising her head up from her pillow for the red head to see her.
"There you are. Was looking for you, haven't seen you much all day." she walked in the room to see Hermione still laying in bed. "Whats the matter? Why are you still in bed?"
Hermione glared at Ginny, as if she should know why she laid there.
"Nothing, I don't know what's the matter with me." Ginny sat on the edge of the bed of Hermione's and saw the look in her eyes as the girl stared at her.
"Hermione. What are you thinking about?"
"This thing I have with Draco. What am I doing? I can't stop thinking about it. What do I tell Harry and Ron? I can't keep this from them anymore. They're going to be so angry."
"I can help soften the blow with them. It will be fine! Is that what you're so worried over, is telling them?"
Hermione sighed, sure she was afraid of telling her best friends she was friends with their known enemy growing up. But it wasn't just a friendship, it was something more for her. She could feel it all over as much as she wanted to try to ignore and deny it. The warmth she felt when she saw him. The permanent smirk he had until he looked at her and smiled. The way his stormy gray eyes looked at her, after going the entire day without seeing her. His soft hands holding onto hers when he grabbed them. The way his lips curved into a smile as if begging for her to kiss them. She couldn't stop it! She had to stop thinking like this, she was obsessing over every detail of him. Every moment with him, thinking if she should have done something differently.
"Not exactly." she mumbled, not wanting to admit anything just yet. If she couldn't admit something to herself out loud, how could she say it to Ginny?
"Hermione, I know that look. Just say it!"
"I can't, Ginny! What does that say about me?! What if I admit to something like that?! What does that say about me?"
Hermione was raised up, her body heating up with the tension she was feeling.
"That we are only human, Hermione. We don't always make the best decisions, but we can't ignore how we feel."
"You're right, I can't ignore it. I also can't lie to my best friends. I can't keep something like this hidden. I have to tell them. Maybe if I tell Draco first he will end our friendship so I won't even have to tell Harry and Ron."
Ginny laughed and rolled her eyes. "I'm pretty sure that isn't going to make you feel better. You still need to tell them or you're always going to feel guilty. Now, why don't you go ahead and tell me first what you think you need to tell the ferret?"
"Don't call him that!"
"Don't ignore my question."
"Ginny, I think I love him. I don't know how I could even let them happen but I think that I do."
Hermione was staring at best friend in tears. How could she let her feelings get the best of her? How could she let the person that made fun of her, call her names, the nephew of the witch that tortured her, steal her heart away? She nearly felt ashamed of herself, but then the rest of her was relieved of her saying the words out loud, she wanted to be with Draco, kiss him, make him be her first and only one. While her best friend still sitting on the edge of her bed, smiling happily at her.
"See? Wasn't that hard to say that now was it?"
"You're my best friend, it's supposed to be easy to talk with you over these things. Now telling Draco? That will be something different. I could barely talk to him about the dream I had."
"You told him about the dream?! Why didn't you tell me?! What did he even say?!"
"He thought it was funny. Then teased me over it saying maybe one day we can make that come true."
Ginny rolled her eyes, "For being the smartest witch your age, you can be really oblivious to things. Why would he say something like that if he didn't have some feelings for you? Hermione did you ever think, of all the people he could have asked to be friends with, why he asked you? Why would he pick you? Maybe he was after something more then just a friendship this entire time."
That was a thought for Hermione, that she had not thought of. She would find the answer to that before she would admit to Draco how she truly felt. She needed to find him, the empty feeling she was having without him there needed to be filled.
a/n: Hope you enjoy the chapter, its a little shorter then the last but I will try to make the next chapter longer. I'm trying to get to the point of Draco/Hermione being more together then they have been. I am thinking by next chapter something is going to happen between the two of them :) STAY TUNED! :) Leave a review!