I know, it's been a month, and I am sooo sorry. Things have been crazy.

p.s I do not own Harry Potter.

Hermione stared at Draco, thoughts flying through her head so fast she had no time to comprehend them. The whole night she was with Draco. This whole fairy tale had been with Draco. She had kissed Draco. Suddenly Hermione felt dizzy she went to grab the nearest tree, but she never made it.

"Hermione?" Draco asked, knelling beside Hermione's fainted body. "Hermione please wake up," Draco pleaded. Slowly her eyes opened.

"What happened?"

"You fainted."

"What? Why am I with you?"

"Hermione?"

"Why are you calling me Hermione?"

"You don't remember?" Draco asked, and then it all came rushing back, her being late, dancing with Draco, spending the night with him, and the kiss that ended with them taking off their masks. Hermione sat up, and Draco tried to help her.

"Don't touch me."

"Hermione, please…" Draco said, she looked up at him and saw the fear in his eyes.

"Just don't touch me," she whispered. She had no idea what to do, she just had the best night of her life with her one enemy she ever had. Everything about the night had felt so perfect, and now that was all ruined. She needed to get away from him, needed to run as far as she could from him.

"I need to go," Hermione mumbled. She picked herself up off of the ground, and began walking in the direction she hoped was the way back to the castle.

"Hermione please just talk to me."

"No."

"Please…"

Hermione kept walking, she had started to cry, and didn't want him seeing that he had got to her. Hermione could see the castle as the she approached the edge of the woods, she quickened her pace she just wanted to have a hot bath and forget all about last night.

Suddenly she could feel a hand grab her and push her against a tree gently. Of course it was Draco, all of her senses sprung to life, his simple touch made her feel more alive. As if she was living in black and white before and now everything was colour.

"I'm going to kiss you."

"No," she said so softly she didn't know if he heard her.

Draco gently kissed her lips, instantly Hermione responded. It felt so natural, so right. She kissed Draco back with more passion then she ever thought she had in her.

Out of no where Hermione pulled away, what the hell was wrong with her. This boy had tormented her for years, and now she was willingly kissing him? She pushed Draco roughly away from her.

"Don't you ever touch me again."

"Hermione relax, let's just talk about what happened." Draco was not about to let her get away from him without a fight.

"I have nothing to say to you."

"Well I have something I would like to say to you, seeing as you know we just kissed."

"You kissed me after I asked you to leave me alone."

"You don't really want me to leave you alone."

"And how would you know that, Malfoy?"

"I could tell."

"Oh yeah I forgot, you are the Slytherin King, no one would dare turn you down right? But you know what you are to me Malfoy?

"What?"

"You are scum, Death Eater scum." She had no idea why she said that to him, she wanted to be as mean and nasty as she could, she wanted to hurt him.

"How dare you say that to me," Draco was starting to get mad at Hermione, she had no right to say those things to him.

"How dare I say that to you? So it's okay for you to call me a mudblood, for years but the second someone shows you the truth about yourself, you get all offended?"

"But you are a mudblood," Draco said without thinking.

Hermione couldn't decide whether or not to slap him or walk away, in the end she did both.

"Hermione, I'm sorry," Draco yelled after her holding his sore face.

Hermione ran all the way back to her room crying.

"I hate him," she screamed ripping off her dress. All she wanted to do was burn it, she never wanted to her once beautiful dress ever again. She let herself fall to the floor, heart wrenching sobs shook her body to the core. The thing was, she wanted Draco more then she wanted anyone else in her life. She wanted the man behind the mask to be someone else, anyone else besides Malfoy. How could she fancy someone she was so against? Someone who never showed that he knew how to care for anyone but himself? She wanted the man behind the mask, but did she still want him when he was Malfoy? After awhile her sobs slowed, and then stopped altogether. She allowed herself to look in the mirror, her make-up had run down her face, her eyes where all swollen from crying, and her lips were ringed with red. She looked a mess, and yet when she looked in the mirror, she didn't see all of that. She saw someone new, someone who was worthy of a purebloods affections. She smiled at herself, she had kissed Malfoy, and she wanted to do it again.

Draco slowly made his way back to the clearing in the woods, where he and Hermione had slept all night. He bent down and picked up the mask that Hermione had been wearing. It was even more beautiful now that he was looking at it closely: just like Hermione. Out of all the girls in Hogwarts, he never would have chosen Hermione out of a crowd, but now he knew that there could be a thousand girls, and he would find Hermione with no problem. He hated that he let himself be so vulnerable. If it had been anyone else he knew his cover would have been blown, but he knew Hermione wouldn't talk. Even if she was just saving herself. He needed to talk to her, he prayed that she would listen to him. He knew he had to wait a little while, see how she reacted when she saw him. By the time Draco returned to the Slytherin common room it was almost dusk. No one looked up when he entered they were all used to Draco disappearing for hours or days at a time. All of them assumed that he was either off having sex with a girl, or off doing Death Eater stuff. When he entered his room, there was a letter sitting on his bed, sighing he walked over and read it:

Draco,

As you know your time is almost here, there is no need to feel afraid Draco. You will be accepted right into his inner circle. You are my son, and he expects great things from you.

L.M.

Anger poured through Draco, he knew his father wanted him to become a Death Eater, but Draco never wanted to become one, as much as his father wanted him to be one. So much had changed, he needed to think of a way to get out of this or he was going to be stuck for life, that is if he wanted to get out. He ran down to the common room and threw the letter into the fire, watching as it caught fire and burned. He knew that he was ruthless enough to become a Death Eater, he knew that he could kill countless people and not care. But he also knew that it would eventually eat him apart, maybe not today or tomorrow, but one day.

No matter what path Draco took, he would make the most of his life. He tried not to think about last night, but he couldn't help it. If he could feel what he felt again last night, he knew he would never do anything that would risk losing that. So that left him to think, he had to make one of the hardest decisions of his life: Did he follow his heart? Or did he follow his brain?

---

Two weeks had past since the Christmas ball, and Hermione had avoided Draco so fiercely, she was almost late to all of her classes. She knew that it was wrong to avoid him, and that she would have to speak to him sooner or later but she dreaded that moment more then anything.

"Granger," a voice called out to her, she knew who it was and pretended she didn't hear him.

"Granger, you can pretend not to hear me all you want, I'm just going to follow you till you acknowledge me."

"What do you want?" Hermione asked, turning around.

"I want to talk to you."

"Fine you want to talk to me so badly, tonight ten by the pond, don't be late." Hermione stalked off to her room, before Draco could say anything else to her.

Ten came way too quickly for Hermione. Part of her wanted to see Draco and part of her didn't. Part of her wanted to kiss Draco and part of her wanted to run away screaming from him. She was so confused. She hate to admit it but she took a little extra time getting ready for her meeting. At nine-fifty she headed down to the pond.

Draco was at the pond at nine, not wanting to be late. He had spent the rest of the day wondering what to say to Hermione. He still had no clue. He could just leave her alone, and follow his fathers' wishes, or he could fall for Hermione even more then he already had, and risk everything. Was Hermione worth it? Was she worth losing everything? They had one night together, one night. He didn't even know what he felt for Hermione, all he knew is that when he was with her or kissing her it was as if he could do no wrong, no harm would ever come to him. Thoughts of being a Death Eater, or Voldemort where so far away and it felt wonderful.

"Malfoy," said a soft female voice. Draco knew who it was, but could not force himself to look at her, he feared he would have no control, and end up kissing her again.

"Granger."

"You wanted to talk, so talk."

I hope you enjoyed it. It's going to get better, and juicier. I promise ;)

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--Nickie Thorn.