Nine. Hermione

I woke up the following morning with a pounding headache. I stayed up really late unable to sleep because all I could do was feel sorry for Damon. His troubles were still playing around in my head and I couldn't stop thinking about them. I wanted too know what he meant when he said he needed me and had things to tell me, but couldn't yet.

I glanced over at the clock which flashed 7am. I decided to pull myself out of bed and have a shower; maybe it would make me feel better before lessons started. I dreaded seeing Harry and Ron, last night was great but I had woken up feeling like shit.

After my shower I got dressed and was feeling a bit better. I loved getting ready in the morning; it gave me time for myself. I looked at my pasty face in the mirror and pulled out some foundation. I looked down at it and frowned. I never wore make-up before and lately I had noticed how much I had changed. I couldn't stand looking at myself without any make-up on anymore; I always looked so run-down and pale.

After getting ready I quickly descended the stairs into the common room, which was empty. Feeling a lot better having been able to think things over, I made my way to the great hall. I was hoping Ginny would be there, I was dying to tell her about the night before.

I looked around the basically empty hall and was surprised and annoyed to see Harry sat in the middle of the Gryffindor table. I thought about turning around and leaving but I decided I would have to speak to him, we were best friends.

I slowly walked towards him and sat down; he turned to face me and smiled. "Nice to see you not avoiding me," he said.

I gave him a small smile and tuned to my plate. Putting some toast onto my plate I slowly began to eat. I wasn't very hungry but I couldn't just sit there in silence. I could feel Harry looking at me so turned to face him.

"What do you think we should do?" He asked slowly.

I didn't know exactly, or at least I thought I didn't. But as I sat there it hit me. We were friends, nothing more. It was just a stupid thing we should be laughing about.

"Harry." I said, "We're friends right? Things happen between friends its nothing big. We should be laughing about it not worrying. It was a little stupid thing that Ron and Ginny need not know about. It meant nothing, just a silly mistake."

With that I turned back to my plate to carry on eating. I suddenly realised my hunger now that the weight had been lifted. Looking at my plate I said "So, what have you…" I turned to look at Harry but he wasn't there. Casting my eyes around the hall I saw the back of his head followed by his billowing robes leave through the doors.

Nine. Draco

My legs began to ache and I struggled to breath. I jumped over a fence and ducked behind it as a curse flew over my head. Jumping back up and running I heard "Avada ka…"

"Expelliarmus!" I shouted, shooting the curse over my head before he could finish his. It was strong and sent him flying backwards after his wand. I shot another curse at him and he lay there still on the floor. Casting a spell my father had taught me I sent him somewhere he wouldn't be getting out of very soon.

My vow to not kill anyone didn't really come in handy when I was being chased by deatheaters, which was beginning to happen on a daily basis lately. Most of them didn't even know I was there and just coincidently ran into me.

Recalling what had just happened over in my head I saw a slight problem. He was going to kill me. Voldermort had obviously become desperate because I thought he would have wanted to do the dead himself. I was in serious trouble now. I'd have to make a move but it was so hard now that the plan was moving forward so well.

I'd met Hermione again twice after the first time. I was shocked how well I got on with her. We would speak about completely random things all day and I was starting to miss the moments that I wasn't with her. Again I tried blowing this off as the fact that she was the only human being I was in contact with, but I was finding it harder and harder to convince myself. She told me so much. She said she just felt like she could talk to me about anything, and I felt the same way, although I couldn't. Not just yet.

The subject of me came up. Well, of Draco. She said how much she hated me; she went on for ages about how horrible I was to her. At one point I said sorry to her not realising what I was doing. But thankfully she just thought I was feeling sorry for her. I felt bad, recalling everything I had done to her. I took my anger out on her because I hated my life, and I hated muggle borns. I hated the fact that she was better than me when I felt I should be the best, being in the greatest pure blood family.

We also spoke about Harry, and Ron. She didn't tell me much about Harry, he's a huge secret. I assumed that there were things about him they didn't understand; whenever she brought his name up I could feel her confusion. But when she spoke about Ron, I was overwhelmed by an odd feeling. She was so frustrated by him, she loved him, but she didn't. I should say she had loved him because I could tell that the feeling I felt in her heart when we first met was pain because of her love for him, but the last time we had met, the pain was taken over by relief, she knew she was getting over him. And she was happy.

Weirdly this had made me happy. She couldn't be with someone like Weaslby; he wasn't not good enough for her. I confused myself so much. I didn't know what I felt; I had always been in such control of my feelings. I had to be to get through the crap that my dad gave me. But now I didn't have a clue what to do. I started getting these feeling for Hermione and I tried stopping them but the more I tried the more I found that I liked her. I refused to let the feelings over take me, she didn't even know the real me.

I put my head in my hands, I was trying to make excuses but they didn't work because she basically did know the real me. Everything I told her may not have been exactly to the point, but it was exactly how I felt. I told her perfectly how I was treated. And I hadn't ever acted like someone else, I was always myself. Apart from the fact that I would usually be an arse to her, but if I wasn't, I'm sure I would have acted the same.

I was just about to transform and go to find some food when an owl flew through the open door. A smile played across my face as I dashed towards it like an excited puppy. I unrolled it and read out loud to myself; "Hello you! How's your morning been? I'll come and see you later if you want? Love, Hermione"

I replied straight away telling her to come whenever she wants. I quickly went to get some food, I'd found a way into the back of honeydukes and I could get into the store room. Sometimes I would change into Damon and just buy food, but I couldn't chance having questions asked.

I ran as fast I could back to the shed, which was pretty fast; wolves had amazing strength in their legs. I got in and changed into Damon straight away. I didn't know when she would turn up but I didn't want to chance anything, besides I had a feeling she was going to arrive soon. I didn't know what it is but I just seem to be in sync with her. I knew when she felt things, it was weird. I decided that I would ask her. She was clever and maybe she felt the same things.

Just as I predicted she walked in through the door. She looked absolutely stunning.

Ten. Hermione

I needed to see him again. It was weird, I was so close with Harry, Ron and Ginny (well not so much Ron at the moment) but I just felt that I could tell him more. I told Ginny all about meeting him, she was in love with him and she had never even seen him. She kept asking me if I liked him but I really wasn't sure, or I was in denial. I'd liked Ron for so long it would have been weird liking someone else. And because I knew he liked me I felt like I was betraying friends. I knew Harry and Ginny wanted us to be together, but Ginny kept telling me they want me happy no matter who I was with. Plus she said Damon seemed to be gorgeous and her brother was…what were her precise words?...A minger.

I had a nice long chat with Harry on the night that he left me in the hall. I was kind of scared that he liked me and wanted it too mean something to me, but thank god I was wrong. He just said that he was hoping I wanted to tell Ron. He was so close to Ron and he hated the fact that he was hiding things from him. But then he said he didn't want Ginny to know, he didn't want to ruin things with her. I thought that was a bit of an unfair thing to ask of me because I was so close to Ginny and plus Ron would want her to know. So we decided not to tell them, it was nothing big anyways.

I decided to go and give Damon a visit. I wrote to him and he replied telling me to turn up whenever so I left it about an hour before I left.

On leaving the castle I saw Tonks and Lupin making their way up to the entrance. Giving me a little wave I ran down to them, I hadn't seen them since they left to find Hagrid. I was so excited I hoped they may have found him but from the slightly grim looks on their faces I could tell it was false hope.

"No luck?" I asked, the smile leaving my face.

"Oh, we've had luck." Replied Lupin. "Just not of the good type."

"What happen?" I asked, dreading what he would say. He looked at Tonks who picked up where he left.

"It turns out that a certain little deatheater planned the capture of Hagrid." My heart began to beat fast and my fists clenched. I knew it. "A tortured and obviously not very loyal deatheater revealed that he planned the whole thing and was in charge of the operation. This means that he is moving faster up the line towards Voldermort than we anticipated." I didn't understand, surely he wasn't as much a threat as the other Deatheaters.

She turned to Lupin, "Maybe we should tell them all together?"

Lupin shook his head, "No we don't have time, she'll have to tell them."

"What's wrong?"

"Hermione, we think Voldermort knows he is growing weaker. We are sure that he had figured out his horcruxes are being extinguish. And we fear that a new Voldermort is in the making. It makes sense for Draco to be the person he has chosen. Why recruit him at such a young age otherwise?" I began to shake my head, surely not. "We thought that if we could stop him sooner, maybe we could turn him back. He didn't kill…kill Dumbledore so there must have been some good in him somewhere. But now this has happened we are afraid that's not the case.

The deatheater told us that he's killed many already, he told us he is more powerful than we can imagine and that we will fear him one day more than we fear Voldermort."

"He was lying." I said trying to convince myself. "He's just trying to scare us."

"We hoped that was the case." Lupin answered. "But another Deatheater was caught and their stories matched perfectly. From what we can gather Deatheaters don't meet up much, so wouldn't have formed a plan to scare us off. And we doubt they all get to meet Voldermort, especially not these ones. They were amateur, we caught them easily." He finished adding, "Hermione we need to tell McGonagall all this so we have to leave you here. Please, let Harry and Ron know and tell them we will be in touch soon." I nodded my head, unable to find words as I shook his hand and Tonks gave me a small reassuring hug.

I was so angry I stormed through Hogsmead and up to see Damon. From a distance I could see the door was open and wanted to cry already, I was glad I was about to see him. Anger was surging through me as I stepped into the doorway of the shed and Damon turned to see me, a shocked look on his face which was replaced by a very sexy smirk. This made my anger demolish very quickly as I couldn't resist but smile back at him.

I was overwhelmed by different feelings, again. Want, need…love? Were these my feelings, or Damon's? He started walking towards me until he was so close he had to look down at my eyes. His eyes flashed with anger for a moment but it was quickly replaced by that sexy look. I wasn't quite sure what was happening but I was in no rush to stop it.

The smirk never left his face as he spoke, "Do you feel it?" He asked. I nodded, taking in his scent. He smelt gorgeous. "I could tell," he said. I didn't know what was going on but I just wanted to jump on him, it took my every will to stop myself.

His face was now dangerously close to mine as he asked "do you know what it is?"

"Your feelings?" I answered as I felt his warm breath against my lips.

"And yours," he whispered moving closer. "That's..Why..They're..So..Strong.." He said very slowly moving closer with every word until finally his lips met mine. I pushed my body into his as his hand found the back of my neck and as the kiss became more passionate, he pulled away. Breathing heavily.

Ten. Draco

What did you just do...

I wiped my hands down my face as I mentally scolded myself for my actions. How stupid could I get? I just couldn't help myself. When she walked through the door she looked so angry, I found it sexy. All these feelings built up in me and I assumed they did in her to because the tension was so over powering I couldn't keep away from her.

I would just have to laugh it off and turned to her with an innocent look on my face, "oops," I said as she began to laugh. I had to hold myself back this time, everything she seemed to do I found sexual. I took deep breaths as I offered her a drink, which she took looking quite embarrassed.

"So." I began, followed by an uncomfortable cough. "I'm guessing you feel what I feel, as do I feel what you feel?"

She pushed her lips together and looked down at the floor. "I'm not quite sure how I feel. When I'm not with you all I can do is think about you. What does that mean?"

I smiled, that wasn't what I meant, but it was what I wanted to hear. I walked towards her and kissed her. As I pulled away she flickered her eyes open slowly to look at me and smiled. I motioned for her to sit down.

Sitting very close, directly in front of her, I took her hands in mine. "Not exactly what I meant." I said, with a cheek grin. Embarrassingly, she looked at her crossed legs. "Not that it wasn't what I wanted to hear." She didn't look up, clearly wanting to know where I was taking this conversation.

"What I meant was, I seem to be able to feel what you feel and well, from what just happen." I smirked at her as she lifted her head, "I reckon you can feel the same things from me?" To answer me she just smiled. "I don't get it. How do we do that?"

She pondered the question for a minute and before she even answered me I knew that she had no idea. "I have no idea. I can think of no reason for this to happen. I know that two people can have a magical connection but I honestly can think of no reason why we would have one." She finished with an unknowing smile on her face.

I told her not to worry too much about it, we could deal with it. Although I wasn't quite sure if I could. If those feelings emerged again I was uncertain whether I could stop myself; I would have to, I could never hurt her, and she still thought I was Damon. I had to tell her. I felt physically sick. I was too scared to lose her. Just an hour ago I wasn't sure of my feelings but it was as though seeing her had opened a new path for me.

I had thought it was impossible for anything to happen between us. Maybe it was because she was here with me so my feelings were so much stronger, but now I saw no reason why we couldn't be together. I slapped myself, literally. Hermione looked at me; a playful smirked appeared on her face. I loved that side of her, it was so hot!

She started to read through a book. I just watched her. Her tongue stuck slightly out off her mouth in concentration. She looked very cute. I couldn't handle it anymore; I couldn't stay away from her.

I pulled myself a bit closer to her, she smirked but her eyes never left the book. Looking over her shoulder, very close to her face, I asked "What are you reading?"

She bit down on her lip slightly and turned her head to look into my face. For a minute I thought I would have to repeat the question as she just looked at me but finally she answered, "Witches and wizards through the ages."

"Read it to me." I said.

She laughed a little but nonetheless she began to slowly read, which again I found very sexual. I was a teenage boy; I was allowed to find everything a turn on. "Hilda Hickelburst founded how eye of newt influenced the rate that…" My mind blanked of all she was saying as I watched her read. I tried taking everything in but it was so hard.

Softly I kissed her neck, and she giggled, "Are you listening?" She asked smirking at me.

"Uhuh." I answered, placing another kiss on her neck, then another and another. I could tell she was beginning to find it hard to concentrate on reading and she stammered her words until suddenly, very unexpectantly, she stopped reading and caught one of my kisses with her mouth. Without thinking I put my hand to her neck, pulling her closer to me and the kiss deepened. She ran her tongue over the roof of my mouth and left a tingling trail. Slowly she pulled away from me and smiled.

I was falling in love, I was sure of it. The feeling of lust and need was replaced by the need to talk and know more about her. We sat there for two hours telling each other stories of when we were younger and all the exciting things we got up to at Hogwarts. All the things I told her were true, she was shocked to hear how bad I was at Hogwarts but I returned that feeling when she told me of some of her adventures.

I couldn't believe how much she had been through, she had fought deatheaters and nearly been killed, she helped a prisoner escape from Azkaban and saw him die. I was shocked, utterly shocked, that she was telling me all this. These things were very important and I was so happy that she felt she could tell me.

This was the time, I was sure of it. I had to tell her, show her who I really was. I couldn't go on any longer with her liking Damon, I was jealous of Damon. I wanted her too like me, Draco. I only looked like a different person, but inside I was the same.

Eleven. Hermione

I kissed him; I couldn't let him carry on kissing me neck. It was tearing me apart. It was amazing. We talked for hours about everything and anything. I told him about everything that I shouldn't tell anyone. I was positive he wouldn't tell a soul, I just knew it.

I thought I was falling in love. In fact I knew it. I just wanted to stay with him forever, and the more we talked the more I was convinced that it was love.

The mood changed suddenly however and the all too familiar feeling that I was feeling what he felt hit me. He was anxious, nervous and scared…Really scared. There was something he was about to tell me but he was scared to do it. This was it, the thing id been wanting to know for so long. The thing he had to tell me but had to wait.

"Hermione I need you to know something." He said. "I want you to know how much I like you. I feel great around you; you make me feel like a better person. Everything I've told you has never been said to anyone else. My father is a prick; he made me feel like shit, like I was always in the wrong. But you've made me realise that it was not all my fault, it was his. He shouldn't have made me feel like I did."

"I'm glad you see it Damon." I said. "You're so special and no one should make you feel bad about your self. I really like you to, in fact I think I like you more than even I realise and…" He kissed me. He forced his lips onto mine and although it seemed anxious it was great. It felt like he needed to do it before he carried on. This made me worry.

He looked into my eyes. His eyes were so beautiful and as I looked into them I shivered but refused to break my gaze. He was feeling sad and nervous beyond words. He looked down at his hands.

"This isn't me." He said, looking at his hands as he turned them around. "I need you to know this because I care for you. I can't stand it that you like this person who is not me. I need you to understand that everything I have told you has been the real me and I want you to give me a chance, give the real me a chance."

"Damon, I don't understand." I was really starting to become quite scared.

"Damon isn't my name." This was unbelievable, it just couldn't be happening. "Hermione, it is so hard to explain and the best I can do is show you."

He slowly pulled his wand from his pocket and waved it over his body, which began to change. His clothes changed to robes of black and I followed the spell as it continued to change his appearance. I looked into his face as his mouth opened to say something, but the spell hit him and he just looked at me. His gorgeous azure eyes disappeared and were replaced by ones that struck fear and anger through my body, eyes that I knew all to well.