Wow, it's been ages since I last wrote this. I have no idea what to talk about in it, but I'll try. I'm going to attempt to wrap it up soon. Like, in the next chapter or two, because otherwise I'm never going to finish this.

--

Hermione jogged through the halls of Hogwarts, clutching her side to try to quell the cramping ache that was forcing her breath out in little wheezing gasps. I have no idea how people manage to run so much! They must be insane. Give me a book and a cozy chair any day, she thought.

She rounded a corner and was confronted with Draco sitting on the floor in front of the library.

"Finally! I knew you wouldn't be able to stay out of here for too long! What the heck were you thinking?! You could have been killed! I've been worried si-" Draco's rant was cut off by Hermione placing her hand over his mouth and dragging him down the corridor before anyone saw the couple together.

"I'm sorry, Draco. My hands were starting to hurt and there was a ledge that I was able to land on anyway. I guess that as soon as you left the room Harry came back and found me. I was so caught up telling him about..." she trailed off and dropped her eyes.

"About...us?" Draco questioned. Hermione merely nodded, afraid to meet his gaze. She knew that he would be furious that Harry now knew about their situation. "Hermione, look at me. Please," Draco asked. Slowly, Hermione raised her eyes. She was relieved to see that he wasn't upset. "Hermione, Potter and Weasel, I mean Weasley, are your friends, right? And that makes them important to you, right? Then I'm not going to cause any more trouble with them. I don't want to hurt you or force you to choose between us."

"Oh, Draco, thank you so much! I've been so worried about this situation. Now that you and Harry are both okay with it, I've just got to convince Ron. That could be much more difficult, though. He absolutely hates you, and he's been trying to make a move on me for ages. I used to think that I was attracted to him, too, but now I realize that I could never care for someone the way I care for you. Well, at least Harry will probably try to help me with Ron. I should probably go try to break the news to him now. No sense in prolonging the inevitable," she sighed and began to stand from where she had been seated against the wall, but Draco grabbed her hand and pulled her back down.

"Wait, I have something that may help," he said.

"Oh really? What?" Hermione leaned forward to see what he might draw from the recesses of his robes, but instead Draco gently grabbed her face in his hands and softly kissed her lips.

"Oh..." Hermione sighed as she slowly sat back and opened her eyes. "You're right, I feel like I'm floating," she grinned before bouncing up and gliding smoothly down the hall. Draco just smiled at her retreating figure.

--

"You what?!" Ron was shouting, his face bright enough to match his ginger hair. Hermione was cringing in front of him, taking the brunt of her friend's wrath. "You and bloody Malfoy?! Hermione, have you gone completely insane?! He's the biggest bloody wanker who ever - augh!!" he trailed off unintelligibly.

"I'm so sorry, Ron, I don't how it happened, but it did. I can't help myself, and he really does care about me. And he promised to try and be nicer to you and Harry. Please, Ron, try to understand," Hermione begged.

"No, Hermione, you try to understand. That bloody git has done nothing but do his absolute best to make life here a living hell for me and Harry, and you too, if you care to remember! I don't know what he's done to you, but I'd be willing to bet is just another one of his devilish ploys to cause more meaningless pain to us. He's probably just doing it to cause a riff between the three of us!" Ron jabbed his finger into Hermione's sternum to emphasize his words. She looked at him with watery eyes and a quivering chin.

"No, Ron, you're wrong. He may have hated us before, but now I know that he would risk his life for me," she whispered before turning and walking away.

Ron was torn. Obviously his friend was hurting, and he was the cause of her pain. She really did seem to care for the ferret, despite his obvious short-comings. He wanted to run after her and tell her it was okay and they'd figure something out, but at the same time, his heart was hurting too. He had always thought of Hermione as 'his girl', even though he had never actually vocalized this idea. He had never really contemplated that Hermione might not agree with this. What would he do without her? He didn't want to do the right thing and concede defeat, but he couldn't see any other way to keep Hermione in his life without having her resent him. If he couldn't have her love, he still wanted her friendship.

"Hermione, wait!" he called, and grabbed her arm just as she stepped out of the portrait hole to leave the common room. He followed her out and closed the portrait. "Hermione, I'm sorry. The idea of you and that - Malfoy," he amended his word choice at the look Hermione shot him, "together does something funny to my stomach. A bit like when I hexed myself and vomited slugs. Anyway, I hope that you can forgive me. I don't want to see you get hurt. I'll try to be civil to him, but it'll be hard for me. I would do anything for you, Hermione, even if it means giving you up. I love you, and I'll always be here for you."

"Oh, Ron, thank you so much, you have no idea what that means to me!" Hermione smiled up at him through watery eyes. "I know this must hurt you, and I wish there were some other way, but I just can't help how I feel. I will always be your friend, Ron." Hermione stood on her tip-toes and lightly kissed Ron, then threw her arms around his neck and gave him a big hug.

"Ugh. I hate being a good sport when I lose," he sighed into her hair. Hermione giggled.

"Ron, you haven't lost, you just haven't found the right girl for you yet," she grinned, pecked him on the cheek one last time and skipped down to the Great Hall.

--

"Honestly, Draco, why are you being so, so...mean lately?" Pansy pouted. Draco was sitting in a chair in Slytherin common room when the girl had crept up behind him, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. She had quickly found herself practically thrown on the floor in front of him in a rather undignified sitting position.

"Since when is it acceptable to sneak up behind someone and kiss them when they don't even like you that much?" Draco said without even looking up from his book. Pansy let out a huff, stood up and stomped off. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm too good looking for my own good," Draco chuckled under his breath before marking his page, standing up and exiting the room into the hall.

--

That night during supper, Draco was sitting at the Slytherin table, as always, wedged between Crabbe and Goyle. As he sat there eating, Hermione waltzed into the room. He nearly choked on his steak when he saw her. Since it was a Friday evening she didn't have to be in her school robes, and she had opted for something a little more attention grabbing. She wore an amethyst-colored top with just one sleeve, her nicest dark-wash jeans, a pair of gold kitten heel sandals, and a little bit of gold jewelry to accent everything while her hair had been half pulled up with just tendrils trailing around her neck and ears. To Draco, she was breath-taking. He saw her cast just a very brief glance in his direction, and he realized she was putting on a show for him. He winked and finished eating, stood, and exited the Great Hall.

--

Hermione watched Draco leave and was slightly annoyed that he didn't seem more interested in staying and watching her, so she ate in a rush and followed him out, when she stepped out of the Great Hall, she closed the doors and looked around to try and determine which direction he may have gone when she felt someone grab her shoulders. She almost shrieked from surprise, but then Draco's face appeared next to hers. He smiled at her, winked, and pulled her a little ways from the doorway before spinning her around to face him.

"That's quite the outfit you're wearing tonight, Miss Granger. Very provocative, I must say," he smiled wolfishly.

"What, this old thing?" Hermione giggled and pirouetted so he could get a better view of the entire ensemble.

Draco grabbed her roughly by the waist and pulled her into him. Their eyes locked and Hermione could feel the electricity flowing between their bodies. Slowly, slowly Draco leaned in and Hermione's eyes closed just as his lips grazed hers. One of his hands wound up and caught the back of her head, twining into her hair, loosening the style she had worked to produce, while the other stayed wrapped around her small waist. Hermione raised her arms and placed them around his neck, stroking his hair with one hand. The kiss was pure ecstasy.

Suddenly, the doors to the Great Hall burst open and students were flowing out around them, shouting, laughing, and gasping when they caught sight of the unlikely couple.

"DRACO!!" A distinctly angry, feminine voice sounded right by the blonde's ear. He sighed, and opened his eyes, pulling his mouth away from Hermione's but still holding her close. He was shocked to find himself in the center of this mass of humanity; he had been so distracted that he hadn't heard the commotion at all. And now he was confronted with an irate Pansy Parkinson.

"What is it now, Parkinson?" he practically snarled.

"What are you doing with this mudblood?" Pansy hissed. Draco raised his hand to slap the girl, but was restrained by Hermione. She stared up at him with silent pleading in her eyes, and Draco resigned himself to trying to resolve the situation peacefully.

"Not that it's any of your business, but Hermione is my girlfriend," Draco sneered, enjoying the look of anger and hurt that slid across Pansy's face at the last word.

"Look, I know that everyone's going to have a hard time believing that Draco and I are actually dating and not killing each other, but we are. I can't explain it, but things are different now. We've decided to embrace our differences and work together instead of constantly fighting and causing one another pain," Hermione said to the now attentive crowd around them.

"Yeah, and if you don't like it, you can just bugger off," Draco said. He then wrapped his arm around Hermione's waist and started to lead her outside, but before they exited the building Hermione stopped and turned.

"Why did everyone just come running out of the hall like that, anyway?" she asked, suddenly curious.

"Oh, someone set off a stink bomb," a third year chirped.

"Who?" Hermione had reverted back to her authoritarian mode.

"Ron Weasley," another voice volunteered.

Hermione peered around the crowd until she caught sight of Harry, who had a slightly chagrined look on his face, and he glanced back at the partially open doors to the Great Hall where McGonagall was lecturing a dejected looking Ron.

"This isn't over," Hermione said to Harry, who nodded. Then she and Draco exited into the bright sunlight outside, leaving the student body to rethink their whole system. If Draco and Hermione could get along, a Slytherin and a Gryffindor, mightn't others be able to do the same thing? Many rejected the idea, but a few decided to hold out hope.

--

Okay, super stupid ending, I know, but I'm sick of writing this story. So that's it. No more sequels, nothing. This story is done. And if anyone is wondering, Ron set off the bomb as a last act of revenge against Draco so that he and Hermione might be caught and have to explain themselves to everyone. I just didn't feel like putting that in the actual story. Okay, I'm done, I'll probably get almost no reviews, but at least I finally finished this story! Thanks to those of you who actually read it.