Hermione was getting a real anxious feeling sitting in the Gryffindor common room. She got the feeling everyone was looking at her, but she tried to ignore them, choosing to focus on her book. It was a rather hard thing to do, and not just because of the stares. She had overheard a few Slytherin girls talking this morning. It was the typical situation, once again. One girl insisted Draco had completely lost his mind. Another argued that he was just having a bit of fun. He was known for sleeping around, after all. The third added that Hermione didn't seem like the type to sleep around, which led them to concur with the first girl, saying that Draco had just lost it. That, or he was seriously craving some attention. The girls had agreed that it was a more likely scenario. He was simply using Hermione to get a few minutes in the spotlight, because as everyone knew, Draco was an attention whore.

Hermione exhaled, before closing her book and heading up to her room. Turning in early seemed to be a new habit for her these days. She knew that with this relationship, they'd be hit with a shit storm. It's all fine to think about but actually trying to get through it was rather exhausting. She was keeping her complaints to herself now though. It'd be unfair to dump them all on Draco, especially now that she knew he was going through the exact same thing. Worse, probably if one considered how closed minded Slytherins could be.

She flopped onto bed, letting memories of Draco flow languidly through her mind. And embarrassingly enough, she couldn't help but smile.

Damn it, she thought, I really do like the bastard.

That much, of course, had been quite obvious for a while now. But part of her still couldn't believe it. And when he had mentioned that bit about his parents…

He was right. It wasn't ideal. And she knew that he didn't exactly mean he wanted to introduce her to his parents. But the fact that he had said something like that anyway made her heart beat faster than she really wanted to admit. And if Hermione took the time to really think about it, she might even say she was looking forward to it. It'd be amusing, if nothing else.

Nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, I'm the girl you tried to kill.

Mom, Dad, this is Draco. You know, the insufferable blonde who tormented me? Yeah, we're dating now.

Ok, so maybe in reality it wouldn't be that amusing. But it was a fun thing to think about nonetheless. With her thoughts drunk on Draco, Hermione fell into sleep.

The next morning, when she got to class, she was surprised to see him already there. It wasn't unusual; he was always a bit early, but generally she beat him to it. So with a pleasant smile, Hermione walked up to her boyfriend, kissing his cheek and bidding him a good morning.

"Ugh."

Hermione and Draco both glanced up, eyeing the owner of the sound.

Lavender rolled her eyes at them, and turned back to whatever it was she was doodling on parchment.

"Got a problem, Brown?" Draco snapped.

She looked up casually and shrugged her shoulders, "Not at all."

Hermione bit the inside of her cheeks. "You may as well come out with it. Especially with that indignant expression you're holding."

Lavender shrugged again, trying to make it look like she didn't care. "It's just disgusting, that's all."

"Disgusting? It was a kiss on the cheek-"

"You're one to talk, Brown. With your tongue down that redheads throat every goddamn day-"

"That's not what I meant," she interrupted, with an air to her voice, "I mean the two of you in general. What you're doing is disgusting."

Hermione scoffed. "Disgusting? Would you care to enlighten us?"

A few more students had straggled in by now, but were all deathly quiet, not daring to say a word. Lavender seemed to be enjoying the audience.

"You act as though you're in a real relationship. I'd hate to inform you that it's not. You two are hardly ever together. And when you are," she pressed her lips together, as though condemning the actions, "Don't think people don't see you two heading into the RoR together. It's a joke, and quite frankly, an insult to all the real relationships out there."

There was an awkward cough from the back of the room.

"Look, Brown. We don't need your goddamn approval on what you think is a real relationship-"

"I'm not talking to you," she snapped, "You're nothing but a man whore and everyone knows it. I'm talking to Hermione. What do you think you're doing? Has he ever cuddled you? Does he give you gifts? Open the door maybe?"

"I don't need any of that-"

"Ha! I suppose you're just like him then? Sleeping around without a care in the world-"

"OY!" Draco stood up but Hermione pulled him back down.

"Lavender," her voice was calm, unwavering, her eyes large and full of pity, "I'm so sorry."

She scoffed, "Sorry?"

Hermione nodded, a sad smile on her face, "I'm sorry you need materialistic validation in order to ensure the legitimacy of your relationship with Ron."

Lavender laughed out loud, and to be honest, Hermione hadn't been expecting that sort of reaction. "You're feeling sorry for me? Honey. Open your eyes. My Won-Won tells me he loves me every day. We write sweet notes to each other. You see, people in relationships show how much they care for each other."

Hermione blinked. "Every day? Isn't that a bit overkill?"

Draco bit his lip to keep from laughing.

"How dare you?!" Lavender blurted, "At least I know how my boyfriend feels about me! You can try and deny it all you want but everyone wants the same thing Hermione! I don't know what you two think you're doing but it most certainly isn't dating!"

Hermione took quick, fast breaths. She didn't need to prove to anyone that her relationship was real. And she certainly didn't need to prove it to Lavender Brown of all people. She knew how Draco felt about her. And it was a hell of a lot deeper than whatever 'Won-Won' felt for fucking Lavender. Hermione didn't like resorting to violence, but if Lavender kept talking she was gonna knock her right in the goddamn jaw.

"I'm sorry," Draco said casually, leaning against his chair with his hands over his stomach, "I'm confused. What is this 'same thing' you claim everyone wants?"

Lavender glanced at Draco, calming herself down a bit, "You know," she shrugged, "Chocolates and flowers and things like that."

Draco looked over at Hermione, who was burning holes through Lavender's skull with her eyes. "Maybe you need that. I certainly don't."

Lavender shrugged and turned around in her seat, officially ending the argument.

"Hermione," Draco said lowly, "What kind of chocolate do you like?"

She stared at him with wide eyes, "Don't you dare."

He chuckled, shaking his head. "Kidding, kidding. Don't let the cow get to you."

"I'm not." She snapped. But the moment the words left her mouth, she realized she probably sounded a lot more irritated than she had intended.

He cleared his throat awkwardly, "I've never really been that kind of guy or anything, but if you want-"

"No. Absolutely not. It's incredibly materialistic and selfish. I don't need proof that we're together."

"Sure, sure."

She glanced at him, not liking the tone of his voice, "Draco. I'm serious. Not one box of chocolate or a single goddamn flower petal. You got it?"

He smirked and patted her thigh, "Fine. Whatever you say."

She stared at him, not fully convinced, but let it go. Draco wouldn't go through the trouble of it anyway.

The rest of the day proceeded as usual, except Hermione was absolutely fuming. She had tried going to the library after school, to clear her head, but the eternal silence only seemed to allow her more room to think. Hate was a strong word. A very strong word. But goddamn she hated Lavender Brown.

She was probably just jealous. Because Hermione had a super hot boyfriend and she didn't.

It's not a real relationship.

Really? Really?

Hermione took deep breaths. She needed to get a hold of herself. It was getting late. She should head back to her dormitory. A good night's rest was just the thing she needed, especially after having barely eaten. She left the library, book in hand, her steps echoing in the nearly empty hallways. She sighed. Things would get better soon. They had to.

"Hermione!"

Her head perked up, and she turned around, coming face to face with one of the second-year Gryffindors. "Yes?"

"We've been looking everywhere! You have to come, quick!"

Her eyes widened in worry, "Did something happen? Is everything ok?"

The girl tugged at her arm, dragging her towards the common room, "Yes and it's amazing! I've never seen anything like it! Everyone's freaking out!"

Hermione's heart pounded with excitement. Strange things were always happening at Hogwarts. And being the curious Gryffindor that she was, she couldn't help the tingling anxiousness that started in her fingers. Something surprising and unexpected like this was exactly what she needed to get her mind off things.

As they burst into the common room, Hermione could honestly say that she hadn't been expecting it, but at the same time, she probably should have.

The obnoxious amount of roses in various colors and bushels that littered the Gryffindor common room was enough to make anyone throw up. Some were adorned with elaborate bows and some had other flowers mixed into the bouquets. One in particular (the largest one) was being held by a teddy bear, who also was holding a small white envelope. And it seemed that with every bouquet of flowers came a small box of chocolate.

Bastard.

"Hermione! It's all for you!

"Open it!"

"Oh you have to read it!"

"You're so lucky!"

The girls were all fawning over Hermione and the very obvious sign of affection that her boyfriend had so humbly graced her with. From the corner of her eye, Hermione saw Lavender's arms crossed, pouting like a five year old.

Slowly, inhaling deeply, Hermione opened the letter, unfolding it to see Draco's messy yet elegant scrawl.

Hermione-

You said not a single box of chocolate, so I figured about fifty would do. Blaise said-

"Hermione!" one of the girls chirped, "Won't you please read it out loud?"

She looked at the large horde of girls that had gathered around her, and with a shaky hand, brought the note up closer to her face. She cleared her throat, "Hermione. You said not a single box of chocolate, so I figured about fifty would do. Blaise said that girls liked roses, so I got them in all sorts of colors. (They don't make green ones, sorry.)"

Her heart raced at the fact that he had remembered her favorite color, before she resumed reading, "The bear looked kind of stupid, but I figured why not. It was a bitch to get this all done before you'd get back, but I'd do anything for you, baby girl."

Hermione cringed. Now he was just showing off.

"Oh my gosh! Does he really call you that?"

"No." she said flatly.

The girls cooed, humming about how romantic Draco was. Hermione started to think that maybe her boyfriend really was an attention whore.

"Does it say anything else?" someone urged.

"Um," Hermione glanced at the note, and read aloud, "I hope the chocolate won't be too sweet, but that's probably impossible, because nothing is sweeter than you." Hermione groaned. The girls didn't seem to notice. Hermione could practically see Draco and Blaise trying to come up with the absolute worst lines ever. She'd give him hell for this.

Also, tell that fat cow of a bitch to fuck off.

-Draco

Hermione giggled at that last part, and when questioned by the girls, she simply closed the card and shook her head. "Inside joke. I wouldn't be able to explain it."

"They even have inside jokes!"

"That's so cute!"

Hermione groaned, a bit more loudly, "What am I supposed to do with all this chocolate?"

"Would you mind moving it?" Lavender hissed, "This is the Common Room not Hermione's room."

Hermione smirked at that, only wishing that Draco was here, so that he could see the look on Lavender's face. She'd have to be sure to tell him, tomorrow. Hermione bit her lip, to try and contain her smile. Maybe Draco was rubbing off on her. That definitely was a bad thing.

Because if nothing else, Hermione knew one thing was certain. Her boyfriend was a goddamn prick. Why that fact made her smile, she couldn't say.