AN: Ok, this is just a warning abou the quality of this chapter, it's not the final draft. As many of you may know college started and I am ambushed with heavy coursework already(argh!) so I have NO time to do anything else!! I really like the way this story is turning out and have ideas of doing a sequel though nothing is finalized at this stage.

Part of the reason I post previews or rough drafts is because as readers, you should have access to a writer's tantrums..lol..weird I know but a lot of editing and re-editing and at times re-re-editing happens before a chapter is produced and I think you should have a look at the primitive stage of this elaborate process. Mind you, this is far from being perfect and full of infinite grammatical mistakes, and not even fully completed, but I want to leave something :) rather than coming back after a long time...So, enjoy it and don't be too critical, do remember it's not even CLOSE to being finished!

Dont want to ruin this but it's a chapter MANY of you have been waiting for :)

And Do Read and Review, it helps and is a source of inspiration for all authors, not just myself. Thanks and have a good long weekend :)

Chapter Fourteen: Love?

"True love comes quietly, without banners or flashing lights. If you hear bells, get your ears checked."

Hermione spent the next few weeks away from Malfoy, taking the long route to class, sitting as far as possible from him near the classes they had together and leaving the Gryffindor Tower only when necessary. Malfoy didn't go out of his way to meet her either, this was good for him, he needed a to figure things out starting with his feelings for the Muggle-born. He liked her, no; it was way past the liking phase. Every time he saw her rush out of class, he had to grab his desk to stop himself from following her. He wanted to talk to her about anything: Quidditch, Voldemort, his father, he felt like he could tell her anything and that scared him. Well, not scared, no, a Malfoy was never scared, agitated is a better word. He was agitated by her actions, why was she avoiding him? H knew it was better that way but a part of him was hurt by her aloofness though he'd die before admitting it. These intrusive thoughts bubbled in his head like a vicious potion gone wrong, all these false assumptions were futile, he needed to confront her and that was the only remedy. Another monotonous day ended as Draco made his way to the Head Girl dorm, it's been a while since he visited Pansy.

"Cornish pixies," The painting creaked open and he made his way into the common room. The sight before him was startling, to say the least. Potter and Pansy were having a conversation and by the looks of it, a serious one. He made his presence noticeable as he cleared his throat and Pansy jumped out of the couch, literally. Draco folded his arms and the silence persisted.

"Do I have to ask for an explanation?" Pansy rolled her eyes, irritated, and Potter galloped to his room, mumbling something about Quidditch practice.

"So, what's up?"

"Nothing, how are things?" his eyes darted towards the Head Boy's dorm before turning back to Pansy.

"No complaints," she stated. "Did you talk to Dumbledore?" she added after a sharp pause.

"No! I can't tell him about His plans" Draco hissed. "Sorry, I don't want to be killed before I turn eighteen,"

"Look, I don't exactly fancy Dumbledore myself but, he's the only one that can do something about this. Honestly, while Voldemort is rallying up muggles by putting the imperius curse on them, we can't sit around not doing anything,"

"True, but, do u know why He's doing that?" Draco asked.

"Isn't it obvious? He's planning an invasion of some sort but, as far as I know, it won't be any time soon, though he's been rallying muggles, he's also been loosing a lot of his followers. Besides, Dumbledore made sure the Order is on his trail. There are a lot of wizards undercover, but Dumbledore should still know." She explained taking a seat. She'd been writing to her parents frequently and gathered some information about the situation outside Hogwarts.

"Maybe he already knows," Draco suggested.

"Plausible but, unlikely. The Order is undercover so they don't have many opportunities to pass the information without being caught, they have to be sneaky. We'll never know unless we tell Dumbledore,"

"Let's go tomorrow," he decided. What worse than being disowned by your own father? Nothing, so, turning your back on him wouldn't make things worse.

"Ok," Draco took a seat beside her and sensed the tension in her posture and speech while they were talking about articles in the Daily Prophet, school work, the usual.

"Ok, what's going on," he stood upright facing her. She didn't look at him, her eyes focusing on the fireplace across them.

"Nothing," she answered. Draco got up, knowing the conversation was over, she wasn't going to budge. After a short farewell, he left the common room.

"You can come out now," Pansy said softly, scratching the smooth teakwood door. She heard him scramble for a moment before opening the door, his expression hard.

"Please, don't tell me your going on one of your guilt trips again," she said folding her arms. They've been meeting in secret for weeks now and if he truly felt as guilty as he claimed he would've stayed far away from her but he didn't, he cared for her.

"N-No, I'm going to tell Ginny tonight," he said, his expression pallid.

"Oh," She'd heard him say that at least three times now but couldn't put his words into action but she didn't stop him once knowing the confession was important for him. At first, she felt guilty, disgusting for doing something so low, stealing someone else's boyfriend but now, it was different…Harry meant more to her than any other man in her life and that was starting to scare her.

"Ok," she said patting his shoulder. "You should, and I just want to let you know that you can do whatever you want, don't let me hold you back from getting Ginny back, do whatever you want," that was hard to say but she had to deliver the "I'm not going to influence your decision" speech.

"Pansy, Ginny is the most important thing in my life," he started. Pansy's eyes lit up in fury; did he not hear what she said?

"So, go back to her then! I'm not stopping you, and if you really love her you wouldn't be in this situation!" Harry's expression didn't change; he didn't even turn to see her outburst.

"…but, somehow, that changed when I met you," he whispered. Pansy's gaze softened immediately, embarrassed by her rage and touched by his words, she leaned over and enveloped him into a tight hug

"Hey, it's going to be ok," she assured as he gripped her tightly, trying to forget what he must do.

Hermione Granger entered the familiar Astronomy Tower with her charts and made her way to the telescope room upstairs. The last time she was here was with Malfoy. Memories flooded through her mind as she distracted herself with examining the lunar charts. Truth be told, she was here to gaze into the heavens, somewhere in her mind, an inkling of hope lingered, the letter was a hoax, it wasn't him. But, it was him and that was what bothered her and the fact that she was here at midnight hoping he'd pass by. Pathetic, she thought to herself.

"Astronomy?" the voice made her jump, her voice echoed the room and Malfoy emerged from the shadows with his usual smirk. She was surprised at how much of an effect he had on her, those piercing gray eyes, even thought she was angry with him.

"Oh, look who it is? Did you just return from the Owlery, got another letter from dear old dad? What does he want you to do now?" The words rushed out like acid that'd been building up since the truth was revealed. At first, Draco was bewildered, the confusion slowly transpired into anger.

"Shut up Granger," he snapped.

"No, I can't believe you'd succumb so low, lower than low. Just leave Malfoy, what are you doing here?" She turned around, her eyes stinging with fresh tears. In a few quick strides, he was by her side and grabbed her arm, forcing her to his angry visage.

"What am I doing here at midnight? Interesting question Granger, what are you doing here? We both know you don't take Astronomy so why bother strolling towards the end of the castle?" Hermione's eyes widened, Malfoy was furious, it was evident in his every move, his eyes, and his scowl.

"Malfoy?" Hermione whispered, partly afraid of his behavior. He released her arm and started towards her, Hermione consequently took a few steps back.

"Alright, you want to know what I'm doing. Since the day you left with Ron from the library, I've been purposely late to Transfiguration every Wednesday just so I could cross your path in the hallways and see you, does that answer your question? Maybe, this would help, everyday, I see you with Weasley and realize that you're too good for him, does that answer your question?" his eyes held rage, struggling to escape. "The real question is Granger, What are we doing here at midnight?" Hermione wriggled out of his grasp, in one fell swoop grabbing her things, and started sprinting towards the door.

"At least listen to the answer Granger, I-I love you and you love me too," the words sputtered out of his lips before he could control his speech and then his mouth was dry. It was unexpected, unplanned, he wasn't sure if he meant it but at that moment when Hermione turned around, all thoughts ceased to make any sense. The expression on her delicate features would haunt him for days on end, the pain, confusion, fury all morphed into that one single expression lingered on her face. She opened her mouth to say something but, decided to turn around. The echo of her footsteps slowly drifted off and Draco was left with silence, a deathly silence. Yet, it was noisy; his mind was reiterating the past few months he'd spent with Granger. The trysts in the hallways, secret meetings in the library and Astronomy Tower and slowly but surely he started believing his assertion: Maybe he was in love with Granger…well, that would complicate a lot of things.

Draco in love is going to be extremely hard to write because it's something every Dramione author percieves differently and sorry if I make him OOC :/ which is ironic because Draco in Love is an OOC thing for him to do. ha!

Alright, Read and Review and I will update ASAP:)