A/N: Wow! Everyone's subscriptions and reviews made me want to get this chapter out even faster! So this is for all you loyal fans out there, enjoy! I am using some of the character's actual dialogue from the books, so just to be clear, I am doing this for fun and I didn't write some of their lines (the Quidditch match scene).

Previously on The Affair- Draco and Hermione's relationship starts to bloom after their flying lesson. Hermione finds comfort and solace in Draco after fighting with Harry and Ron when they run into Fluffy. Draco finds himself caring more for Hermione, but holds back because of her blood status.

Chapter Four

The sweet smells of the Halloween feast waffed through the halls as Draco made his way to the Great Hall. Pansy was walking with him talking about how unfair Transfiguration when they heard two Gryffindor girls mention her name.

"Yeah she won't come out of the bathroom. She's been in there crying all afternoon." One whispered.

"Why was she crying?"

"Ron was making fun of her after Charms because she showed him up in class."

Draco smirked that Hermione was out-performing her fellow Gryffindors, but his smirk quickly disappeared when he thought of her alone, crying in the bathroom.

"Ha!" Pansy laughed loudly. "Even that know-it-all's own housemates don't like her. What a wretch."

"Shut up, Pansy, don't you ever stop talking?" Pansy was taken aback by Draco's harsh words. "I forgot something in the common room. I'll meet you at the feast."

Draco turned around quickly, forcing his way through the crowd; he needed to find Hermione.

He ran into the girl's bathroom feeling not worrying if he was caught; Hermione needed him. He could hear small sobs coming from one of the stalls and rage built up in him. Swearing he would get revenge on Weasley, Draco swallowed his rage and gently knocked on the door.

"Hermione?" His voice was soft. He heard her gasp and try and quiet her sobbing. "Hermione, it's me, Draco. I'm coming in." Pushing the door open he was greeted by the sight of Hermione sitting on the toilet lid with her face in her hands. Draco instinctively knelt down in front of her. He reached up and held her wet hands in his.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" He reached one hand to her face and lifted it to meet his own. Her face was streaked with tears and her eyes were red and puffy. Draco felt like his chest was being torn open looking at her in such pain. His rage swelled up again, but he quieted it down for her sake.

She merely shook her head, her bushy hair falling into her face. Draco wiped the tears from her face and pulled her into his arms. They sat on the floor for some time while Hermione cried into Draco's shoulder. He was torn between running out of there and cursing Weasley and holding onto Hermione and never letting her go.

She felt so good, wrapped in his arms. He hated that she was in pain and crying, but loved the feeling of holding her. Draco could smell her sweet hair and was almost intoxicated by it. He hugged her closer and Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck as well. Draco couldn't help but smile as she hugged him back. He would have never thought it would feel this good.

"I'm okay." Hermione finally said, pulling back a little and looking up at him. "Ron was upset that I could make a feather float in Charms and he couldn't so he said I was a nightmare." Draco's jaw clenched. "I just… I just want people to like me. I don't have to be popular, but I don't want them to hate me."

Draco lifted her face back up to his. "How could anyone hate you?" Hermione had never seen his grey eyes so kind. She felt frozen in his gaze and blankly stared up at him. "You'll always have me. Who cares about those losers?"

Hermione smiled and laughed a little. Draco was making her feel better, but she couldn't get rid of the pain she still felt deep inside. "Thank you for coming to check on me."

"You finally learned some manners!" Draco jokingly said. Hermione slapped his chest lightly and sat up.

"I mean it, though."

"I know. You're welcome." Draco smiled at her and Hermione felt a flutter in her stomach at the sight of it. He stood up and offered his hand to her just like he had the first day on the train.

"I want to clean up a little and then I'll go up to the feast." Draco opened his mouth, but before he could talk Hermione silenced him. "I'll be okay by myself for one minute, Draco. You go on ahead. I know you must be hungry."

He couldn't deny this and nodded his head. He wrapped his arms around her again briefly and hugged her tight. "Weasley's a moron."

Hermione laughed and pushed him out of the bathroom. Draco took one look behind him and head up the stairs towards the Great Hall; the scent of Hermione's hair embedded into his robes.

For the next few weeks Hermione was very busy. After Halloween she had become friends with Ron and Harry. She wasn't sure how they had been passing their classes without her. They borrowed her notes continuously and she edited their essays before they turned them in. Ron didn't mind her being a know-it-all as long as she was helping him, it seemed.

After the first Quidditch game of the season Hermione realized that the conspiracy that they discovered with the three headed dog went much deeper than she thought. Snape had tried to curse Harry! Only by her quick thinking did he stop. When Gryffindor won the match Hermione cheered harder than she ever had in her life. She caught a glimpse of Draco looking sour and then he sneered at her before storming off.

She didn't know why he was avoiding her but she was sure it was something to do with her two new friends. Hermione felt torn between staying friends with Ron and Harry and her friendship with Draco. Being with Ron and Harry was light and fun, while she always felt awkward around Draco. But when he would meet her eyes sometimes, she felt shivers run down her arms and her stomach tightened in a way it never had before.

She tried waving to him a few times in the halls, but he would just glare and walk off with the other Slytherins. She couldn't help but feel guilty especially after how wonderful he had been to her on Halloween. But so had Ron and Harry; they had saved her life. He said he would always be there for her, but his actions now contradicted his words.

Between studying for her classes and researching how Nicholas Flammel was, Hermione didn't have too much time to think about her social life. Before she knew it, Christmas was there. Hermione was going home for the holidays, but instructed Harry and Ron to keep researching who Nicholas Flammel was. Ron was not excited about the prospect of homework over the break, but Harry seemed just as curious as Hermione was.

She bid them goodbye as she walked to board the Hogwart's express. A familiar blonde head stood out in the crowd. Hermione's heart jumped thinking he would be on the train. Her mind raced; should she sit with him and try to talk to him? Should she just ignore him like he was ignoring her? Would he seek her out?

She decided that she had to at least give talking to him a try. If he snapped at her and told her to go away, she would. But not knowing what was going on between them was starting to drive her crazy. Her eyes followed him and saw he was sitting alone in a cabin. After handing off her luggage, Hermione jumped on the train and quickly went to find him.

Draco was leaning against the cold window breathing onto the glass. The door to the cabin opened up roughly and a red faced Hermione came to sit across from him.

"Hello, Draco" Hermione smiled.

Draco glared at her. "What are you doing?" he snapped.

The train lurched forward and took off. Hermione pushed her hair behind her ears and tried to think of what she should say.

"What's going on? You have been avoiding me since Halloween."

"Looks like you've had your hands full" Draco said dully, bringing his grey eyes to stare out the window again.

"Just because I am friends with Harry and Ron doesn't mean that we can't be friends too." Hermione found her voice pleading a little more than she intended it to.

"That is exactly what it means, Hermione. You couldn't have picked two people I hate more than them." Draco snapped and turned his angry eyes on her. "And you should hate them too. After what they did on Halloween-"

"You mean how they saved me?" Hermione quipped. She didn't want him to just sit here and insult her friends.

"I meant how they treated you before."

"They're boys." Hermione passed off his comment.

Draco scoffed and rolled his eyes. He had forgotten how her nose sloped down gently and how her lips formed together in the most perfect way. He tried to push these thoughts out of his head.

"Why are you so mean to them? To everyone who isn't a Slytherin… except for me." She wanted two answers to this question. She did in fact want to know why he had such a disdain for anyone who wasn't in his house and why she seemed to be the only exception.

"Do you know what it's like to be in Slytherin? You are outcast by all other houses. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff all have this interhouse unity bullshit going on, but Slytherin is just left out. People automatically think you're a dick just because of what house you're in. The only people that will really talk to us are our housemates. We don't get the same opportunities that you do."

Hermione was shocked as she realized there was some truth to his words. She had heard herself that Slytherin was the evil house and if she hadn't gotten to know Draco, she would think it was true. Now that she thought about it, neither Ron or Harry had given Draco a chance.

"I'm sorry" She said softly, "I never thought about it like that." She bit her bottom lip. "But if you tried with people, they might not think of you like that."

Draco laughed humorlessly. "Doubt it. I'm a Malfoy. My family has been in Slytherin for generations and my Father…" Draco stopped short. Hermione wouldn't appreciate what he would have said next.

"You don't have to be who they expect you to." Hermione smiled at him a little and Draco felt his anger wane away.

"You got your new friends and didn't care about me anymore." Draco tried honesty and it took a lot for him to actually spit the words out.

"No! It' just they needed my help… on a project. Draco, I could never forget about you."

He felt a pang of guilt in his chest and wanted to say it was all okay and she was forgiven. But his loneliness and hurt was still there. She still had blown him off.

"You could have better friends than them." Draco sneered.

Hermione crossed her arms and looked at him harshly. "There is nothing wrong with them and if you gave them half a chance you would see that!"

"Well maybe I will!" Draco yelled back.

"That would be great!" Hermione's voice filled the cabin.

They both stared at each other for a minute before breaking out in laughter. Hermione pushed her hair out of her face again and Draco shifted in his seat. They spent the rest of the ride back to London catching up on what had been happening over the last two months and Draco did impressions of their professors.

Draco Malfoy was on cloud nine. School had started back up after the holidays and he would be able to see Hermione again. It surprised him how much he had missed her over the holidays. He thought about her every day; when he was flying through snowflakes he pictured Hermione with snow in her hair, when he opened his Christmas presents and received a book of curses and hexes he knew Hermione would love to read through it.

His Father had given him the book and told him to put it to good use. Draco was sure he would; there were three people he had in mind that he might try of the curses out on- Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Neville Longbottom. Hermione did not seemed convinced that her choice in friends was subpar when they argued on the train. But now that they were back in school, Draco could show her how useless her new friends really were.

Sitting in the library Draco underlined a few of the curses he wanted to try first. At that very moment a loud crash came from a corner of the library. Draco's head shot up to see none other than Neville Longbottom on the floor with books scattered around him. Draco chuckled a little to see the clumsy boy fussed at by Madame Pince.

Perfect. He thought and stuck the book in his bag before following a red faced Longbottom outside the library.

"Hey! Longbottom!" Draco called out and Neville turned around, his face whitening as soon as he saw Draco. Draco smiled nastily at him as he advanced on his prey. He could hear Longbottom panting. This will be too easy.

"W-w-what do you want, Malfoy?" The boy stuttered.

Draco pulled out his wand. "I have been looking for someone to practice a new spell I learned on and you just happen to be the perfect candidate." Draco's smile widened as did Longbottom's eyes. He loved that he could provoke a reaction out of someone, even if that someone was Longbottom.

Images of Hermione sitting with Longbottom and talking to him flashed through Draco's mind and infuriated him.

"P-please! I don't want any trouble!" Longbottom threw his arms in the air and Draco laughed at him. "I won't t-tell on you, I promise!" Draco thought that Longbottom might cry and a surge of power and pride welled up in him.

Draco looked Longbottom over with harsh grey eyes. "How did they ever put you in Gryffindor? You whiney baby; I'm surprised they let you into Hogwarts at all!" Longbottom whimpered and seemed to shrink under Draco's gaze.

Raising his wand he spat out the words "Crus Cataracta!" and Longbottom's legs snapped together toppling him over. Draco couldn't control his mirth and laughed in Longbottom's face. Longbottom tried to get up, but kept falling over which threw Draco into more fits of laughter.

He knew the noise would attract more people soon, so Draco put his wand away. "You were a great help" he said snarkily and sauntered off towards the Slytherin common room leaving his victim struggling to stand.

Per Hermione's invitation, Draco came to watch the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff game. He brought along Crabbe and Goyle because if he was going to have to try and play nice with Weasley and Longbottom, he wasn't going to do it looking like he had no friends of his own.

Hermione seemed oddly distracted throughout the game but Draco was making himself right at home. He sat behind her and could smell the sweet smell of her hair in front of him. He saw that she had her eyes glued on Potter and frowned.

"Wonder how long Potter's going to stay on his broom this time? Anyone want a bet? What about you, Weasley?" Draco joked, but Weasley didn't seem to find it funny. Draco sulked for a moment before looking back at Hermione. She kept staring at Potter and Draco's jealousy got the better of him.

"You know how I think they choose people for the Gryffindor team? It's people they feel sorry for. See, there's Potter who's got no parents, then there's the Weasley's who've got no money" He wanted to get a reaction out of Hermione, anything at this point. "You should be on the team, Longbottom, you've got no brains."

Longbottom turned as red as his Remembrall as he turned to face Draco. "I'm worth twelve of you, Malfoy." Draco couldn't help but laugh and Crabbe and Goyle joined in. What made this fool of a boy think he was even worth half of Draco?

Weasley backed Longbottom up and Draco could see Hermione tense up. Why wasn't she saying anything? Why wouldn't she tell Weasley and Longbottom to shut up? Draco decided to just mess with the two instead of trying to make peace like she had asked. If she was going to ignore him, then he didn't have to play by the rules anymore.

"Longbottom, if brains were gold you'd be poorer than Weasley, and that's saying something."

Ron threatened him and Malfoy smirked that he was getting under the ginger's skin.

Hermione called out that Harry had spotted the snitch and Draco saw him diving towards the ground. Let him hit it, let him splatter on the field. Draco thought darkly. He saw Hermione's excited expression as she grabbed onto Weasley's shoulder.

"You're in luck, Weasley," Draco said as nastily as he could, staring at Hermione's hand. "Potter's obviously spotted some money on the ground!"

As flurry of red hair flew at Draco and knocked him backwards. A very thick hand it him in the eye. Draco pushed up with all his might and threw Weasley off of him. His anger and jealousy was unleashed as he punched Weasley in the face and wrestled him to the ground. Draco hit him in the stomach a few times before they were pulled apart and Hermione was looking at him sadly.

"All you had to do was try." She said softly and followed Weasley out of the stands.

Hermione walked into the library where she hoped to find Draco. He sat in the back reading a old black book while scowling. Hermione waded her way through the tables and desks until she got to him. "Can I speak with you?"

"Oh now you want to talk to me?" he said darkly without looking up from his book.

"Please, Draco?" Hermione felt partially responsible for what had happened this afternoon at the Quidditch game. She had stolen away from the celebrations in the common room to find try and find Draco to apologize or at least explain herself.

Draco shut the book and stood up. He was a good seven inches taller than Hermione and looked down at her darkly. "Follow me."

Hermione did as he asked and followed him down into the dungeons once again. It was much colder down here now and she wondered how the Slytherins were able to live in these conditions. He led her into an empty room and finally turned to meet her gaze.

"I am sorry for the way Ron acted towards you at the match today."

Draco scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"But you didn't have to be so rude either."

"God, Hermione, you invited me to come sit with you and your little friends then ignored me!"

"I was hoping you would talk to them and try to be nice for once!"

"Oh so now I'm not nice?!" They were yelling at each other again.

"Well you are to me, but to anyone else you act like… like…"

"Like what?" Draco's voice threatened.

"Like a bully!" Hermione yelled at him. "You used a leg locker curse on Neville and then you insulted Ron, Harry, and Neville all at the game! You didn't even try to be decent!"

Draco scowled. She wasn't wrong, but he wasn't about to admit that. "They weren't either."

Hermione's eyes went wide. "It's like you are all CHILDREN!" Her voice echoed in the empty room. "What is your PROBLEM?"

"I like you!" Draco bellowed. Hermione stood in shock and her mouth dropped out a little. In his anger Draco didn't feel embarrassed by admitting his feelings. 'Happy? I like you, Hermione. And you hang out with these other guys and I… I just can't handle it, okay?" Draco's chest was heaving and his face was flushed.

Hermione couldn't even be mad at him right then. She fought to keep a smile off her face, but it slipped on as a silly grin anyways.

"Oh that's great, make fun of me now." Draco spat and threw his arms up.

"No, no!" Hermione's face broke into a bigger smile. "It's just… no one has ever said that to me before." Hermione looked down at her shoes for a moment before looking back up at him. Any second now he was going to realize what a nerd she was and walk away from her.

"Seriously?" Draco said obviously impressed. "Are all Muggles stupid?"

Hermione didn't even mind his backhanded compliment; Draco Malfoy liked her! The most attractive guy in their year! She nodded sheepishly.

"I want to say I am sorry for what happened today. I was trying to let you and Ron talk, but that obviously wasn't a good idea." Hermione explained. "And I like you too." She could feel her face flush red when she said this.

Draco broke into a smile. She liked him too! His mind raced, what exactly did this mean now? He was still Pureblood and she was Muggleborn. But he didn't want anything to get in the way of their relationship now.

"I guess we can just keep this a secret." he said.

"It is kind of romantic." Hermione agreed.

Next Time on The Affair- Draco stumbles upon a fiery secret, Draco and Hermione both get detention. When Hermione doesn't show up for a scheduled meeting with Draco he fears she is in grave danger.

A/N: So the next chapter will be the last one taking place in The Sorcerer's Stone. Personally, I can't wait until I get to write for Chamber of Secrets. Please let me know what you think! Your reviews help and inspire me to write!