Hi all. Thanks for all the favourites, follows and reviews, I'm really chuffed with the responses. This is where the plot begins to thicken; I hope you continue to enjoy it.

The next few days were hectic for Hermione. She was dragged around the Burrow and presented to every member of the Weasley family as Ron's fiancee. She smiled and hugged everyone and acted the part perfectly, the unresolved feeling of disappointment and wrongness still lingering in her stomach. Ginny got very upset at the thought of a double wedding, but she soothed her friend and said she had no intention of them marrying this year, which cheered her up and got her talking about the engagement again. Harry watched Hermione out of the corner of his eye, and she knew that although Ginny was oblivious, he was aware she wasn't entirely happy with the arrangement.

She managed to avoid being alone with him for the whole day, though, evading his attempts to corner her. She didn't want to discuss it. Not yet, at least, when it was all so fresh and she still hadn't figured everything out in her head. The helpless feeling of not being entirely in control was beginning to get to her, and she was starting to wish this whole mess of emotion would just go away.

Ron was now clingier than ever. He would not leave her alone for a moment outside of work; he stayed at her apartment every night - though she had refused to have sex with him each night, feeling awkward and guilty at the thought of it - called her during her work hours and met her for lunch every day. She had not seen Draco for their regular lunch meetings since the announcement, because every spare moment she had, she found Ron hanging off her arm. She knew that he was excited about their engagement, but honestly, she needed time away from him. The nagging worries she had about this arrangement were not assuaged by this thought. What would it be like when they were living together and he was there ALL the time?

Rescue came in the form of Harry's upcoming birthday party. Since he had had no celebrations living with the Dursleys in his childhood, every year Molly insisted on putting on a huge party at the Burrow and inviting everyone they knew. Hermione was looking forward to it, because it would be a chance to get away from Rom's suffocating company and see some of her friends - she had not seen Neville, Luna, Seamus, Dean, Padma or Parvati since the incident in the Three Broomsticks, and she wanted to talk to them again on happier terms. Harry himself, who was still trying to get her to talk about the engagement with him, would be busy with his guests, and she would be able to relax and enjoy herself and forget about this whole cloud of worry that seemed to have formed over her head in the last couple of months. It would also be a chance to see Draco and talk to him about the engagement. She had not seen him for over a week, which was very unusual and she found herself missing his company and his wit. She had never found another person who was quite so much on her wavelength, and she was sure he would be able to help her figure out her emotional crisis. Harry meant well, but he wouldn't be able to grasp the depth of her complicated state at the moment, and she knew that Draco would understand in a heartbeat.

The day of the party rolled around, and Hermione turned up at the Burrow with Ron in tow at 7:00pm. Despite her insistence that she didn't need an escort, and that he lived at the Burrow anyway, Ron had come over to her flat an hour ago and sat around while she dressed, claiming that he didn't want to wait at home as he would be forced to help set everything up. Hermione was wearing one of her smartest, most sophisticated dresses and Ron was in dress robes - thankfully, nice ones he had bought with the money from his wages, instead of the horrific ones he had worn to the Yule Ball.

Ginny flung open the door, beaming to see her best friend and brother, and told them that most of the guests were beginning to arrive. She led them out to the yard, where fairy lights had been set up in the trees surrounding the open area, and a tent had been put up, much like they had done for Bill and Fleur's wedding. There was an abundance of food and drink, and people in black tie and dress robes mingled inside the marquee. There was no band, but a set of magically charmed musical instruments played some soft jazz in the background. Everything looked perfect.

Ginny was chatting excitedly about how they had finally chosen a venue for the wedding. She had been fighting Molly on the topic for weeks, claiming that she didn't want to have it at home, but in a nice old stately home somewhere in the country. Molly, of course, had been adamantly against the idea, and the ensuing arguments had been the hot topic in the Weasley household for a while. "Mum's finally agreed, though, and she says I can have it in a grand old house, as long as it's not too far away from here. I found a gorgeous place about thirty miles away, and we're going to see it next week, but it looks like it might be the one!"

"That's great, Gin," Hermione smiled. "I'm glad you and Molly sorted it out, I thought we were going to get to the wedding day and still be arguing about where to have it!"

"Tell me about it," her friend grinned as the three of them entered the marquee. "Well, I better go and find my fiance. Help yourself to food and drinks, and come say hi to Mum in a bit, she'll want to see you."

"Will do, thanks Gin," Hermione said, and watched her dart off into the throng.

"So," Ron said, turning to Hermione, "What do you want to do? Shall we have a dance?"

"I think I'm going to grab some food," Hermione said, "I haven't had anything to eat since lunch. Why don't you go and find Neville or Dean?"

"No, it's okay, I'll come with you," Ron replied, and she inwardly sighed as he took her arm again and pulled her over to the food table at the back.

Hermione chose her nibbles and took a glass of champagne from a tray brought around by a grinning George. "Alright there, Hermione?"

"Yes, George, great, thanks, how are you?" she replied.

"Well, apart from being forced into slave labour by Mother dearest," he gestured at the tray, "not bad at all. Oh - she's looking. Better not chat, got to get back to work."

Hermione laughed as George hurried away. Molly was indeed casting a sharp eye about the room, ensuring that her guests were well catered for. "George really needs to move out," Hermione remarked to Ron, "he's the only one living here now, besides you, so he gets stitched up doing jobs like this!"

"Well, I don't really live here much anymore, either," Ron said, "luckily, or I'd be doing what he's doing right now!"

Hermione cracked a smile at that. She was glad to find that Ron still had the ability to make her smile.

"Shall we go and find the Gryffindors?" she asked him, and he nodded. They weaved their way through the crowd of people to find a little group of their old schoolmates congregated in the corner of the tent. Dean, Seamus, Parvati and Padma were there, and Harry, who greeted them jovially when they arrived.

"Here's the other happy couple!" he grinned and raised his glass.

"Oh, don't Harry, tonight is about you!" Hermione exclaimed, and hugged him. "Happy birthday."

"Thanks," he said, and gestured around. "Molly's outdone herself this year, don't you think?"

"It's magnificent," she agreed, "though I can't help but feel it's probably intended to convince Ginny to have her wedding here instead!"

"Oh Merlin," Harry said, rolling his eyes, "don't even get me started on that - we'll be here all night."

"How are you, Hermione?" Parvati piped up, eyeing Ron a little warily.

"I'm fine, thanks, Parvati," she smiled, knowing what her old roommate was referring to, and the other girl relaxed a bit.

None of them explicitly mentioned the previous meet-up, but the atmosphere in the group was a bit tenser than usual, and nobody could look Ron properly in the eye, except Harry. It was clear that they were still a bit uneasy, after seeing his outburst of temper. Ron got more and more uncomfortable the more they talked to the Gryffindors, and Hermione silently willed him to leave the group so she could talk with her friends and not have him there making it awkward. It was not to be though, for after a while he drew her away and asked if they could dance.

Resigning herself to leaving along with him, Hermione excused herself reluctantly from the group and went to the dance floor. Ron pulled her excessively close and put his hand on her bum, pushing their bodies together as they danced. She couldn't help but be reminded of the last time she had danced with anyone - with Draco at the Memorial Ball - and how gentlemanly he had been, and how smooth and natural their dancing had felt. Ron had two left feet, and though she had always known this about him, now it irked her, just as everything about him seemed to irk her nowadays. She wondered when that had happened.

Just when it seemed like there would be no escape, and she would be resigned to another evening spent unhappily in the company of Ron, a smooth voice interrupted them and her heart skipped a beat. "May I butt in?"

"Draco!" she detached herself from Ron and hugged him, and was surprised to find him hugging her back just as fiercely. He had never been much of a fierce hugger. "I didn't see you arrive!"

"I only just got here, actually," he said, "got held up at the office. My new potion recipe is finally finished, and I was putting the finishing touches on it before I sent it off to the regulatory committee."

"Oh, wow!" Hermione exclaimed. "I don't even know what it does yet, I haven't seen you all week!"

"I know," he replied with a hint of sadness. "I wondered where you'd got to."

"She's been busy with me most of the week, actually," Ron said, eyeing Draco up rudely. "Have you not heard? We're engaged now!"

Draco's eyes widened in shock and surprise for the briefest second, focusing on Hermione, but he masked it quickly with a veneer of calm. "How nice for you."

"It is, actually," Ron went on. "So she'll be busy with me from now on - she might not have time to meet you for your little potion lunches anymore."

Hermione glanced at Draco, and then back at Ron. "Don't tell me what I will or will not have time to do, Ronald," she scolded. "If I want to meet Draco for lunch, then I shall."

"But you'll be my wife," Ron retorted, "you can't go against what I say."

"I assure you that she can and she will," Draco said. "If you think for a moment that this woman is going to do anything you tell her, unless she wants to, you're sorely mistaken."

"Indeed," Hermione added.

"Siding with him, as usual," Ron said to her, sounding hurt, and then sneered at Draco. "Me and my FIANCEE are going to find our friends now," he announced, "and we probably won't be seeing you, Malfoy."

Hermione couldn't take it any more. "No, Ron, we're not," she said. "You go. I am going inside the house, and I'm going to sit down and have a moment to myself, because right now your attitude is driving me up the wall."

Ron looked at her, and then back at Draco, who had one eyebrow raised, watching the two of them, and then back at her. "Fine," he snarled. "But we'll talk about this at home."

She glared at him and whirled around, with an apologetic look at Draco, and walked away from the tent back up to the darkened house. She could not stand him for another second - the second Draco had come into the picture, he had returned to the angry, snarling, possessive person he had been before the engagement. She should have known he would never change - should have realised that he was not capable of becoming something different. He would always hate Draco - and if she was honest with herself, she knew that he probably had good reason for being so possessive when it came to the blond man.

She sat down in the dark kitchen, tears threatening to burst forth from her eyes, and remembered another night just like this one, back in fourth year, where Ron had upset her so much that she had sat in this same position, in a beautiful dress like this one, and cried. He had ruined so many nights for her, and she found herself wishing she had the strength to push him away once and for all - they weren't working, they weren't connecting, and she found herself dreading having to spend the rest of her life with him.

"Hey," a small voice issued from the doorway, and she looked up to see Draco peering round the door. "Thought I'd come and see how you were."

"Oh, Draco," Hermione said, trying to smile even through her sobbing, "how did it come to this?"

He entered the room, looking devilishly handsome in his black tux and bow tie, the same one he had worn to the Memorial Ball two months before. He sat down on a chair next to her and took her hand. "I'm here to talk. You know that."

"We used to be happy, you know," Hermione said. "In the beginning. We were young and in love and thought we would be forever. I just don't know how it went from that...to now."

"When we mature, we change," Draco said mutely. "Everything changes."

"You're the best example of that," Hermione replied, and everything was quiet for a moment.

"Let's go for a walk," Draco announced. "Not back to the party - it's suffocating in there - let's go round the front of the house and walk into the woods by Ottery St. Catchpole. I think the fresh air would do you some good."

Hermione agreed, and he took her arm gently and escorted her out of the empty house, and into the warm July evening. They walked in silence out of the front gate and into the woods, threading between the trees, each lost in their own thoughts. Eventually Hermione spoke up.

"I didn't want to get engaged."

"I know," Draco said quietly.

"I just couldn't say no."

"I know."

"He promised he would change - he would stop being so angry, and jealous, and childish if he felt more secure, knowing that I was committed to him. But he hasn't changed at all, you saw that tonight - and I don't know if I can cope with an entire lifetime of that." Herrmione stopped walking.

Draco turned to face her. "There is your problem. You shouldn't be talking about changing, and coping, and security. A real relationship is about love and trust between two people, and all the happiness and other stuff comes with it. If you're talking about coping with him, then you're not going to be happy."

Hermione knew this. At the bottom of her heart, she didn't want to marry Ron, and she knew that.

Draco went on. "You know, when we first started talking again, I knew that something was different about you. When I'd seen you in our final year, granted I wasn't paying much attention, but you were happy with him, as far as I could tell, you never had that sadness behind your eyes that you do now. I noticed it from the first moment I saw you again; that however happy you're pretending to be, inside you're lonely. And I've been trying my damned hardest to fix it."

Hermione said nothing, but her heart started pounding in her chest and her throat suddenly felt dry.

"I thought I could make it better. I thought I could make that haunted look go away - I never wanted to see you sad again, not after what happened at the Manor - with Bellatrix - I felt responsible, in a way, and I wanted to make you happy again," Draco said with a bitter tone. "And now, you're one of my closest friends, and I feel so helpless." He gritted his teeth and balled his hand into a fist. "You're so kind, and gentle that you don't want to say no to the Weasel, because you can't bear to hurt his feelings. It's so you, Hermione. To sacrifice your own happiness for the happiness of others. But it's not fair for you to do that anymore; not to yourself, and not to me."

Hermione was confused now - he was getting closer, and she could feel heat radiating off him.

"I've seen the way you look at me. Don't think I don't know. And by Merlin, you've no idea how much I want it too. It was so hard to say no, that night when we nearly did...but I had to, Hermione, I had to for the sake of everything we've built. It was all wrong, then. But being away from you, this last week, knowing that you're unhappy sharing your bed with another man - with the Weasel, who treats you like dirt instead of the goddess you are - it was torture, Hermione, and I don't know how much longer I can keep this going."

He was right in front of her now, her back pressed against a tree. She couldn't speak or breathe. His deep, stormy grey eyes met her brown ones, and the intensity and passion in his gaze was more than she could take.

"I'm sorry, Hermione, but I have to do this. I have to show you what you're going to miss, if you can't find the courage to end this engagement. I'm going to show you what your life could be like. I don't care if it's wrong - not anymore - because I can't hold myself back."

His intense gaze transferred for a brief second from her eyes down to her lips, and then they closed, long eyelashes fluttering shut as he leaned in to kiss her. She met him halfway, the gradual accumulation of lust and longing in her heart welling up at that moment into a haze of passion. The kiss was like nothing she'd ever experienced with Ron - the way he held her, and caressed her was enough to make her breathless. His lips moved against hers, tasting purely and deliciously of Draco, and it felt so right, so perfect, and her heart turned into a firework in her chest.

Gently, inquisitively, his tongue pressed against her lips, and then they were locked together, devouring each other heatedly and passionately, and he pressed her back into the tree as she ran her hands through his silky, beautiful hair. The kiss became more urgent, more desperate as weeks of repressed feelings came pouring in from both sides. It was explosive, and wonderful, and as they drew away, gasping, Hermione could only find herself wishing that it had never had to end.

He looked at her, his hair messy and his face red, and she felt like she could drown in his eyes, now dark with lust. "You can't tell me it's anything like that with him."

She shook her head, unable to formulate words to explain just how much that kiss had meant to her.

"I can't make your decision for you, Hermione," Draco said gently, his hand stroking her face and twirling a strand of her tousled hair between his fingers. "If you decide that I'm what you want, I'll be happier than any man on earth, because I know that you are what I want, wholeheartedly and completely. If you decide not...well, I can deal with that when it comes. But Merlin, knowing that I can feel like this just kissing you, I can only imagine..." he tailed off, breathing heavily.

"I can't be with him," Hermione said in a small voice. "I know I can't. I've known it all along, really, that we're not compatible, that deep down, I don't love him like I used to - like I should. And with you, I feel so comfortable, and Merlin, the things I want to do to you - but I didn't know if you felt the same way, or even if what I was feeling was real."

"And now?" he whispered.

"After that? How could I ever be happy with any other man? You're it for me, Draco. That is, if you want to be?" she finished with a hopeful smile.

"I'm not even going to answer a stupid question like that," he responded, and leaned down to kiss her again, more gently this time, more seductively, and ran his long, sensual fingers through her tangled locks. She couldn't believe that this man, this Adonis would consider her worthy of his attention, and she responded with all the passion in her heart, sure now that here, in his arms, was where she was meant to be.

He drew away once more, and stepped back. "We can't do this anymore, Hermione. You're still engaged, and we have to stop now, or I'm not going to be able to stop later and I don't want to do something we'll regret. I want to be honourable about this - as far as I can - and show the Weasel some respect."

"You just kissed his fiancee after walking her out alone in the woods," Hermione joked, her eyes twinkling with humour.

"Well, you were going to marry that idiot, I had to do something drastic," Draco said in response, causing her to laugh, her tears from earlier completely forgotten. She marvelled at just how happy she felt around him, and at the feeling of floating on a cloud, which she had not experienced since she was a silly teenager first starting to date Ron.

"We'd better head back," Draco said, the reluctance heavy in his voice as he looked at her wistfully.

"Yes - Ron will be looking for me by now," Hermione said with a sinking feeling in her heart.

"No, no, don't get that look on your face again," Draco put a finger under her chin. "It'll be fine, ok? I promise."

"We can't do this straightaway - you know that right?" Hermione said in a voice barely more than a whisper. "I have to give it time after...well, you know. People will talk - it will be all over the papers."

"I know," Draco said in a strained voice. "But I can be patient, if you can."

"I'm engaged to a Weasley. I have infinite patience," Hermione said, and Draco barked out a laugh.

"We're all good then," he said, his voice returning to that low seductive tone and his eyes darkening again. "But you know it's going to be all over the papers anyway, right? Gryffindor's Golden Girl with an ex-Death Eater Malfoy man? Skeeter will be all over that shit."

"She won't if she knows what's good for her," Hermione said, and as they walked back, she told Draco how she had trapped Skeeter in a jar in fourth year and blackmailed her with her secret. Draco, of course, had known that she was an Animagus, and laughed out loud as Hermione regaled the story.

All too soon, though, they were back at the Burrow, and reluctantly Hermione put some distance between herself and Draco, letting her hand drift away from his arm and giving him a last, passionate glance before they arrived at the door. Draco nodded at her and left, walking round the side of the house back towards the marquee, obviously not keen for Ron to find out that they had been together at all - even if it had been innocent, Ron would flip out. Hermione took a deep breath and entered the house.

For Draco's sake, and for her own, she needed to end this engagement. Tonight.