It wasn't like she would have refused him had he asked her to help get rid of Pansy to begin with. But now that she had lost – and at such a high price – she couldn't hardly stand it.

Draco had followed her into their shared dormitories, but she had slammed the portrait behind her so he had to give the password before entering. By the time he'd gotten up to her room, she'd locked the door and jumped onto her bed. She had no intention of leaving unless absolutely necessary. When he knocked on the door, though, she sat up and stared at the entrance.

"Granger, c'mon. We can take away that last set of points." He offered weakly. She could hear him sigh and lean against the door when she didn't answer. "What do you want me to do?"

"Nothing." She called in return, lifting herself off the bed and walking over. She opened the door quickly and he jumped back to keep from falling. "You've won. We can change that – you know I'm far too stubborn, and you like winning far too much."

"But-"

"No." She frowned, looking at the floor. "I understand that I've lost. Now we just need to find a way to get rid of Pansy for you.."

Draco watched her with a bemused expression as she headed down to the common room and sat on the couch with her legs curled under her. He stood on the other side of the table they'd placed in front of the couch and watched her with raised eyebrows.

"Well, aren't you going to sit? I thought you Slytheirns liked plotting."

–

By dinner time, they'd been unable to come to a reasonable conclusion. Draco's favorite was the idea of hexing Pansy every time she came near. But Hermione had a feeling that wouldn't go over too well when it came to their positions. Goodness knows there were a couple prefects hoping to take Hermione and Draco's spots if anything went wrong.

"I'm starving." Draco grumbled finally. "Let's just go eat. We can talk about this after dinner."

"And after our project's analysis." Hermione added dutifully.

"Ah. Of course." He pouted.

Hermione smiled at him, which made him rather pleased, surprisingly. He wasn't sure how they had suddenly begun getting on well, but he decided that while he still enjoyed teasing her about her Muggle-born status, he had known all along the Pureblood frame of mind was wrong. At any rate, he wasn't about to ruin their year by fighting over every little thing he could.

He held the portrait door open for her and they began walking down the hallways to the Great Hall. Class had only been going on for a week and a half, but already the two were comfortable with their new location.

"You know, I find it rather odd that we've managed to get some work together in such a short amount of time," Hermione was saying, "It's quite nice to be able to actually work together and -"

Suddenly, Draco cursed and stopped in his tracks, running a hand through his hair. Hermione realized this had to be one of his habits – something he did when he was anxious. He turned to face her as she glanced down the hall. Pansy was squealing about something with some girls from Slytherin.

"What do we do?" Hermione whispered to him.

"Well," Pansy was saying, "I'm about to go find Draco. I'm sure he's waiting for me!" She suggested smugly.

"Shit!" Draco cursed again, looked completely panicked, looking around for some kind of idea. Then his eyes met hers and Hermione saw a kind of fire burn in them instantly. It was a mix between determination and excitement. Perhaps something else was there, but she couldn't place it.

"What..?" She asked, eyes wide and flicking back and forth between his silver-grey ones.

"Kiss me." He requested, reaching out to her.

"What?!" She hissed, backing up a step or two.

"C'mon. You promised." He reminded her.

"Bloody bet.." She growled, but stepped back towards him.

Draco reached up again and rested a hand on her cheek, moving the hair out of her face. His hand closest to Pansy came to rest on Hermione's waist. Just as they heard a gasp from Pansy, he closed in on her and his lips met hers.

For a moment, all sound was drained from the world around Hermione. It was like everything else had been paused. She could only think, and feel. Even her thoughts, admittedly, were a bit jumbled. But Merlin, could she feel. The hand on her waist slipped around her back and pulled her closer only seconds after they'd connected. As if that didn't surprise her, her own hands moved without her willing them to. Or she didn't think she had anyways. They brushed their way up his chest and came to rest just below the apex of his shoulders. Just as Draco tilted her head back to deepen the kiss, two shouts went up in the hallway, pulling them back. One from both sides of them.

"What the bloody hell are you doing, Hermione?!" Ron shouted, mouth agape. He was standing on the side closest to the Head's Dormitories. At the same time that he reacted, Pansy had screeched and stormed off into the Great Hall with her girls.

"I would have thought that after months of sucking off Brown's face, you'd have realized that what Hermione and I were doing would be called 'Kissing Properly'." Draco remarked snidely, turning to face Ron. He hadn't, however, released Hermione. One of her hands was still on his chest, and his arm pulled her closer to his side.

Not sure what to do, Hermione just avoided making eye contact. She had made a bet and these were the consequences. Surely Draco had a solution?

"Whatever, Ferret."

"There it is again. That name." Draco rolled his eyes.

"The point is, you have no right to do that to her!" Ron said, hand nearing his wand. Hermione instinctively pulled hers out.

"I didn't hear her complaining!" Draco grinned.

"Hermione, what are you doing?" Ron questioned, noticing that her wand was out. "You're protecting him?"

"That's not the point here, Ronald." She said calmly, trying to get him to understand. She knew that was very unlikely, but could hope nonetheless.

"Oh?" He snapped in return, "What is the point, then?"

"Hermione and I are dating."

"WHAT?!"