Chapter 10

A/n: Thanks, once again, to all my lovely reviewers! And if you want... you may email me about anything... and... Don't worry... I will always reply! Now, back to your regularly scheduled program.

(Revised on March 3, 2006.)

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Hermione took a quick shower in the conjoined bathroom, and began getting ready to go see her "boyfriend".

She wore a pair of Z Cava Ricci distressed jeans, a black wife beater and some black ballet flats. She tied her hair up in a thick black ribbon and wore a platinum chain that had an onyx stone dangling from it.

At eleven-thirty, she snuck out to the common room. It was deserted and the fire was low. She breathed a sigh of relief and went out through the portrait hole.

She walked in the shadows through the corridors. She thought she heard footsteps, so she stopped walking and pressed herself against the wall, her heart beating fast. She looked around and saw no one. She continued quickly, but quietly and cautiously. She still thought she heard footsteps though. She looked back, but no one was there. She decided she was imagining it.

She went to the Room of Requirement and envisioned what she wanted: a fully stocked ingredient cupboard, a cauldron, a couch to relax on when the potion was simmering, and some Pumpkin Juice. She went in, and saw the room was exactly how she needed it. She went to the cupboard and got out Frankincense, Rosemary, Lavender, Neroli, and Verbena. She also got out a knife and sharpened it on a whetstone.

Thinking she heard a knock on the door, she put down the knife she was sharpening and opened it, expecting to see Draco. But there was no one there. She poked her head out into the corridor, and looked around. No one.

She was just getting ready to go back in when she saw Draco coming down the hall.

She smiled at him, and pulled him close when he got to the doorway. She put her mouth next to his ear, pretending she was nibbling on it, and said "I think I'm being followed, but I don't see anyone. Just keep up the act, okay? I'm getting kind of freaked out."

He nodded and nuzzled her neck. "Got it," He whispered.

She went back in, with Draco's arms around her waist. He saw the potions ingredients and said, "So, what potion are we making?"

"It's called the Arcana Potion. It is the potion of long-forgotten mysteries. If something is just a farce, it will turn green. If it is really true, then it will stay gray."

"Sounds simple enough."

"Oh it's simple; it just takes about three hours to brew."

"Then let's get started."

Draco and Hermione prepared the ingredients and dropped them into the cauldron, and set the timer for two hours, fifty-nine minutes, and thirty seconds. They needed those last thirty seconds to add the blood.

"Geez," Draco said, wiping the sweat from his forehead, "How many potions do we have to make today that need our blood at the last second!"

"This is the last one I promise." She grinned at him, and sat down on the couch, patting the cushion next to her invitingly.

He acquiesced, and sat next to her. He leaned his head on the back of the couch. Finding that it was not comfortable enough, he moved it to the arm of the couch. Still it was uncomfy. Then he laid his head in Hermione's lap. Ahh, just right, he thought.

She absent-mindedly ran her fingers through his blonde hair, gazing at the fire. Draco closed his eyes, and decided it was not bad being bound to this Mudblood, after all. She gave one hell of a head massage. Hermione continued to rub his head, when she heard the papers rustle behind them.

Whipping around, she saw the corner of one awkwardly up in the air, before dropping back down again. That was when she finally figured out what was going on.

"All right Harry, Ron." Her sudden speech startled Draco and he jumped a bit. She giggled, and then got up. "I know you guys are in here." Nothing happened; no one appeared.

Hermione remembered she was in the Room of Requirement. She envisioned the Marauder's Map, or something like it, on the table, and found it there. Looking for herself and Draco, she found the Room of Requirement. In the corner were two more dots, labeled Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley.

She accosted them in the corner, and groped around blindly until she felt the liquid fabric of the Invisibility Cloak underneath her fingers.

"Hermione, what are you doing?" Draco called from the sofa. "There's no one there."

"Are you sure, Draco? How about you come look for yourself?"

Pulling off the cloak with a flourish, Hermione stood face to face with Harry and Ron.

"Oh look. It's Potty and the Weasel." One would have thought, under the circumstances, that it was Draco who uttered these words. But no, it was Hermione Granger.

All three boys stared at her in disbelief, and then Draco nodded in approval.

"Are you going to explain yourselves, or am I going to have to Crucio you for fun?" She was not in a mood to be hassled with right now. They had interrupted her while she was trying to make it with a certain hott guy. If she had to use an Unforgivable on them, then so be it.

"You want us, to explain to you!" Ron cried. "No way! Hello! You're the one who's sitting here shagging with Malfoy!"

"Actually, Weasley, if you had paid attention, I hardly even touched Hermione," Said Draco, his voice like ice. He stood behind Hermione, with his hands on her shoulders. With his just natural tallness, and Hermione's present fierceness, they were a bit, no, very, intimidating. Like an evil, living totem pole, but not.

"I suggest you leave now. Dumbledore would hate to have to punish his two favorite students for being out of bed on a school night." Hermione said, pointing towards the door.

"What about you?" Ron asked, his voice rising high.

"Dumbledore knows why Draco and I are here." Hermione took out her wand. "If you don't leave by the count of three, I swear to the Goddess I will Crucio both of you. And do not think I will not do it. You didn't think I would punch Malfoy in third year either, remember?"

"Let's not talk about that babe," the victim said, wincing at the memory.

"One..." Hermione started.

They did not move.

"Two..." She pointed her wand right at Ron's chest.

"Okay!" Harry threw up his hands. "We'll leave. But, Hermione, we need to talk about your, situation." He eyed Draco distastefully.

"Whatever. Just get out."

They left, and Hermione watched them on the Map until they had gone up to the next floor.

"I can't believe them," She said in despair. "Why would they do that? Why don't they trust me?"

"Do you really want to know?" Draco asked her.

She nodded. He picked her up, and carried her back to the couch in a fireman's carry, and she giggled the whole way.

He sat down and placed Hermione on his lap. "I think, but I'm not entirely sure, but I am a guy, so I'm thinking I'm pretty close. Since the three of you are 'best friends', they made a pact with each other not to date you. But they do not want anyone else to date you, either. They're too protective, and they only want the best for you."

"Oh," she said. After a moment's reflection she said, "I've never seen this sensitive side of you."

"Neither has anyone else," He flashed her a grin that could probably win the Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award. "But don't get used to it."

She turned around, hugged him, and laid her head on his shoulder, breathing in his scent. He smelled like pepper, lemons, and spice. A rather delightful, albeit unique, smell.

Draco drew designs in her back with his fingers. Up and down. Side to side. Round and round. Zig and zag.

"Hermione?"

"Hmm?" Her voice was muffled from his shoulder.

"You smell good."

"What do I smell like?"

"Like... like... Crème Brule with strawberry sauce."

"Umm okay then. Haven't heard that one before."

"Sorry. It kinda slipped out."

"Oh it's fine. You smell good too."

"But do I taste good? That's the question." He wiggled his eyebrows.

"I don't know. I guess I'll have to do a little taste-testing."

She straightened up, then leaned down and kissed Draco right on the mouth. He kissed back, pressing hard. His tongue flicked in between her lips, and explored this new terrain. She pulled him closer and ran her fingers through his hair.

He moaned and put his hands under her shirt, caressing her toned stomach. Then-

"Ahem, Mister Malfoy? Miss Granger?"

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Haha! I am so evil!