CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

'There have been five great kisses since 1642 B.C...(before then couples hooked thumbs.) And the precise rating of kisses is a terribly difficult thing, often leading to great controversy... Well, this one left them all behind.'
~William Goldman, The Princess Bride~

Hermione showered first. Their tiny hotel bathroom didn't even have enough elbow room- as evidenced by the throbbing pain in her elbow from where she knocked it into the wall. She pulled on her shorts and t-shirt- determined to be dressed more modestly than when Draco walked in on her that morning (she could hardly believe so much had gone on in one day). She left the bathroom exhaust on and stepped back into their room.

Draco was lying on the bed, his stuff for his own trip to the bathroom sitting on the desk. Next to his stuff was a camera the Ministry had left behind. It was charmed to run all through the night and into the early morning to capture everything. Draco had the remote in his hand, the other arm propped up behind his head. Hermione stared at his flexed arm and the bulging bicep, before she hastily shook her head. He was watching music videos.

"Granger," He said, his eyes glued to the screen, "we have three channels. This is the only one that plays something in English- half of them being music videos." He turned to her, smiling, but then it was wiped clean off his face as he stared at her.

Hermione felt herself heating up and looked down at the floor. He made her nervous and excited. She walked around the room, putting her stuff in her bag. She glanced over at him- finding his eyes trained on her. She looked back at the bag and said, "Do you even know any of those bands?"

"They're muggle," He said, as if she should have known. "Is there a reason they wear so little clothes?"

Hermione glanced at the tv, seeing one of the more famous pop stars whose names she didn't know very well dancing in front of a bunch of ogling boys in sports cars. She bit her lip, turning back to arranging the stuff in her bag. She could have gone to sit on her bed whenever she wanted to, but she was waiting until Draco disappeared into the bathroom. Then she planned to be asleep by the time he got out.

But Draco didn't move. She felt his gaze on her and the same annoying pop song coming out of the tv. "Why do you care?" She asked, "Don't men like scantily clad women?"

She held her breath and he said, "Sure. Scantily clad women are great. You happen to look absolutely ravishing right now. You also look absolutely ravishing wearing those classy blouses and muggle denim trousers you like so much."

She nearly had a heart attack. What had possessed him to say that? And what was she supposed to say back? Where was Ginny when you needed her? Her stomach felt like it had back when she was falling hard for Ron. Except this time it felt that much worst.

"They're jeans," She finally said, lamely. She realised she was losing this battle, standing by her bag hoping he'd leave. He was obviously content to stay right where he was, watching whatever music video it was and glancing at her backside.

She took a deep breath, steeling herself, and then turned around. She wasn't that brave or forward, seeing as she stared at the floor and then hid her legs under the blankets. She sat up, watching the telly, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Good to know," Draco said, a funny sort of smile adorning his face as he looked away from her. They were silent, a new video beginning to play. This time the singer was male and Italian, the video full of girls as back up dancers in strange baggy hip hop pants. She played with her thumbs.

She had it bad for Draco Malfoy. And not even remembering what a git he was in school was enough to change that. Because she couldn't hold his past against him. It was obvious how much he hated going back there via memory lane. His time under Voldemort's control, leadership- whatever you wanted to call it- were not shining moments for him.

"I'm sorry, Granger." Draco said, startling her out of her thoughts.

She thought he was apologising for calling her 'ravishing' and she was about to tell him it was fine, when he went on. "I'm sorry for everything I ever did to you. I called you awful names and I hexed you and- Merlin. How are you even talking to me right now?"

She shook her head, staring at him. His hair fell into his eyes- thank gosh he had put a shirt on when they got back to the room or she would have been a goner. "And don't say 'it's okay' or something. I was a complete prat and I didn't even care. I thought it was right to hate you and I did. I really hated you, Granger. And I have no idea why. I thought you were beneath me. Merlin, I was so wrong about everything. You didn't deserve any of that."

She reached out, touching his shoulder. "I forgive you."

She hadn't known how much she wanted to hear it until he said it.

And then that's when she had a very, very bad feeling that she was in love. And this time it felt nothing like when she thought she loved Ron.

Draco looked at her like she was an angel, come to save his soul or something stupid like that. The moment passed and he reverted back to his usual confident air and nodded. He glanced around the room and his eyes settled on his stuff for the shower. "I'm gonna shower." he said, practically leaping from the bed. He was gone in seconds- their room that small.

Hermione sighed, falling back in bed. She shut her eyes, her heart pounding. What was she going to do? She tried to sleep, but it was useless. She heard the shower turn on and suddenly she was imaging scenes she probably shouldn't have. Had Draco been picturing her-

She blushed and then buried her face into the pillow, groaning. The bed was so hard- that was the only reason she couldn't fall asleep. It had nothing to do with the boy a few feet away. When he came out, she frantically tried to act like she was asleep. She could hear his footsteps and then the ruffling of his bag.

She chanced a peak and saw he was wearing green silk pyjama bottoms and a black wife beater. She bit her lip- because those bottoms made his butt look-

He turned around and she shut her eyes. The tv turned off and then the lights followed and she heard him climbing into the bed pushed right up against hers. If this was a movie he would have kissed her cheek or something- because she was so beautiful he just couldn't resist.

But he didn't. And in moments he was snoring softly.

She wanted to kick him. How could he sleep on this hard bed? And after what they had just said to each other? Was she the only one with all these out of control emotions?

In the morning, Draco was shaking her. She groaned, her body rocking and she tried to push him off. There was some sort of ringing in the background, but she couldn't be bothered to process that. She had been up half the night and it felt like she had only just fallen asleep.

"Granger!" Draco hissed, "There's something in the room."

"You're the guy," She groaned, scooting to the edge of the bed. "You deal with it."

"Granger-" He said again, his hand closing on her shoulder. He rolled her over and she opened one eye, seeing his flawless face. "I'm serious."

"What?" She sighed, wondering how she looked in comparison to him.

"Don't you hear it?" He asked.

She paused. "All I hear is the phone ringing." She thought for a minute, seeing his blank stare. "Is that our wake up call?"

"A what?"

She sighed and then sat up, shoving Draco down. She reached across him, since he ended up with the bed by the phone. After answering the phone, confirming it was their wake up call, she dropped the phone and laid back down. She couldn't fall back asleep now and turned her head to look at the boy next to her.

He was studying her. "Are you always pale in the morning?"

"Yes." She rolled her eyes. "And if you're wondering, that was a wake up call. A call to wake us up so we don't waste the whole day asleep. When you stay at a hotel, most people arrange for one, just like I did last night. And they called on a telephone. Muggles use it to contact each other. That's all from Muggle 101 today. I'm assigning two chapters worth of reading due tomorrow."

"Very funny, Professor Granger." Draco said.

"Test next week," She said, sitting up. She moaned, stretching her arms up. Her shirt rode up a bit, but she couldn't bother to fix it. The stretch felt good and there was a dull pain in her back that had some relief.

Draco's fingers danced across her exposed flesh. She jumped, turning to him. He didn't apologise, much like she expected and reminiscent of the way he touched her thigh when she was ignoring him during the Olympics.

"Couldn't resist," He murmured, looking up at her from his pillow.

She bit her lip, her hair falling into her eyes. His hand fell away from her, resting right next to her body.

"How could I have ever called you ugly?" He said softly, and she figured he'd been talking to himself. "You're the exact opposite."

She rolled her eyes, getting out of bed, "It's too early in the morning for this. I'm going to brush my teeth."

When she was concealed safely in the bathroom, she smiled and blushed and wondered what the Ministry was going to do with that footage.

Apparently muggle transportation ended with the plane ride to Italy. They were Apparating to Tuscany, which crushed Hermione's dreams of seeing Italy from a train window as they sped across the countryside. Draco knew a spell that would send their bags home and he was waiting for her to finish getting ready so he could do just that.

She was having a hard time manoeuvring in the tight bathroom and kept knocking her same bruised elbow into the wall. "Ow," She cried for what seemed like the millionth time.

"Granger," There was a knock on the door, "Do you need help in there?"

"NO!" She shrieked, throwing herself at the door in case he got any ideas. She heard him laughing from the other side and sighed. She was already in the dress, it was purple and long with a bunch of the fabric bunched at her hip. It was one shoulder and showed more cleavage than she had expected. She attempted to style her hair with some spells, trying to get her hair up and have it frame her face nicely.

When she was finally satisfied, she took a deep breath and stepped outside. Draco was sitting on the bed, dressed in the black she had come to expect. But if he decided to wear silk green clothes anytime soon, she wasn't going to deny him.

"Finally," He said, turning towards her. "You were taking fo-" All words died on his lips as his eyes focused on her.

Hermione felt a gush of pride and beamed. She walked straight passed him, putting her clothes and make-up away. When she was done, she turned back to him, seeing that he was still incapable of speech. "Don't you have a spell to do?"

It seemed like there was a delay between his hearing and brain sending a message to his body. But he finally snapped back to attention and did the spell he was supposed to. Their bags disappeared and the pair of them said goodbye to their tiny Italian room.

"Time to check out," Hermione sighed, leading the way to the elevator.

"Granger," Draco cleared his throat, walking next to her. "You look amazing."

"I see you're going for the casual look tonight, as usual." She said, as they stepped into the lift.

Draco grinned before taking out his wand. She pushed the button for the lobby just as a purple rose materialised, pinned right onto his shirt. She looked up at him, at a loss for words and he seemed equally inept at speaking.

Merlin, what were they?

They arrived in Tuscany, right outside a gorgeous villa. Hermione sucked a breath as she looked at all the vines weaving up around the house and red roof. There were olive trees in the front yard and a bright blue fiat in the driveway.

"I could live here," Hermione sighed.

Draco's hand snaked around her waist and he nodded in agreement. "No judgements."

The next villa was nowhere in sight, Hermione realised, looking around. It was obvious why the solitude was so favourable to Draco, who had spent his whole life living under the prying eyes and judgements of others. That's what came from being a part of a prominent pure-blood family. Especially with the aftermath of the war- the Malfoys had been plastered all over the Prophet with gossip about the trial, or lack thereof.

She tilted her head up so she could see him. He was so handsome- she was about to lose herself in a fantasy when Draco turned around. "Hi Mum."

Hermione turned around, finding Narcissa and Lucius dressed in matching silver. She smiled and pulled away from Draco to hug his mum. "Hermione, dear, you look beautiful. I hope my son here told you that."

Hermione blushed and ducked down, hoping to hide the flush. It was too bad her hair was up, so she had no escape.

"Yes, Mum," Draco said, obviously not too pleased either by his mother's remarks. "Why don't we go inside now?"

"Did you have a nice trip?" Narcissa asked, taking her son's arm so he could lead her inside.

Draco glanced back at Hermione, leaving her to walk with his father, before saying, "It was lovely."

Hermione squared her shoulders and followed the pair, determined not to be intimidated by Lucius' cold demeanour and harsh glare. Lucius, didn't seem to get the memo and said, "Granger," appearing next to her. "What are you doing with my son?"

"Filming this show," She answered, since she didn't really have an answer.

"He seems to feel differently." Lucius said, staring at the back of his son's head like he was trying to burn holes in it. Hermione shut her eyes tightly for a moment, but didn't get the chance to say anything since Lucius went on, "But I love my wife, contrary to what you might think of me."

She glanced at him, her mouth dropping. She had spent lots of time devoted to questioning Lucius' actions and wondering if truly loved Narcissa and Draco. But to hear him just come out and say it was bizarre and unexpected.

"And I want my son to find someone he loves." Lucius kept going, now staring at his wife's figure. "We'd been hoping it would be Astoria Greengrass. She's a respectable match- a well born pure-blood, decent at spell work, aesthetically pleasing. Their children would be perfect."

Hermione rolled her eyes. Figures all Lucius cared about was money and looks. Would he have even given Narcissa a second glance if she hadn't been so pretty? "But Draco doesn't seem to reciprocate her feelings. You, on the other hand," His voice changed then, it went from wistful to slightly bitter and Hermione sucked in a breath as she waited for the numerous insults to follow. There would also probably be 'Mudblood' in there somewhere.

"You are certainly pretty enough and very good at wand work. There's just the matter of your-" He stopped and seemed to consider his words carefully while Hermione was still reeling that he had called her 'pretty enough.'

"-blood status." He finally ended with.

She looked at Lucius and waited for him to say something else. He did: "If my son picks you and you so choose to reciprocate said feelings, know I will never give you my blessing or accept you. But I will leave you two to your own life."

She swallowed, figuring that was as good as she'd ever get coming from Lucius Malfoy. And he hadn't called her a 'Mudblood' so maybe it was a start. She bit her lip and nodded, not really sure if she was supposed to thank him. Lucius seemed as confused to, so he nodded back and then they found Draco and Narcissa staring at them intently.

"Everything okay?" Narcissa asked, looking a bit worried. Draco, though, seemed ready to leap into action any moment. Hermione realised this was the longest conversation she'd ever had with Lucius Malfoy and she hadn't even said anything for the entire duration.

Lucius nodded and looked at Hermione one final time before taking his wife in his arms and leading her inside. Lucius and his son shared a look as they walked by and the moment they were gone, Draco went to her side and said, "Are you okay? Whatever he said to you-"

"He gave me 'the talk.'" Hermione said, slightly dazed. 'The talk' she decided, was the best way to sum up what had happened.

Draco's nose scrunched up in a cute way and Hermione realised how deep she was in. She hadn't taken a hesitant step into the deep end of the pool, she had dived in. Head first.

"Pardon?" Draco asked, all his pure-blood etiquette training coming into play.

"Well, your father seems to think that... you, uh we... he..." She trailed off. This wasn't exactly how she pictured, possibly, revealing her feelings to Draco. Was she even going to do that? And did he even have feelings for her, because this whole situation was so abnormal she didn't even know if it was possible.

The meaning of her words was not lost on Draco as his face changed from confused to petrified. "He told you that I-? He said I'm- Merlin." His hands fell away from her shoulders and he looked like he was about to be sick.

"No!" Hermione said quickly, a bit louder than was necessary. She didn't even know what was going on anymore. "He just said that- well... I mean... I was kind of confused for most of it. Especially when he said I was pretty. I might have stopped listening after that."

"You're more than pretty, Granger." Draco whispered, his hand taking one of the curls she had framing her face. They were so close- all she had to do was tilt her head up and she could snog him if she wanted. "And I orchestrated this whole trip so I could spend more time with you."

"Why?" She breathed. His hand let go of her hair to touch her cheek and she held his wrist. "Don't you hate me?"

"Granger," He chuckled, "I haven't hated you for the longest time."

"You don't call me Hermione," She pointed out, but it came out breathier than she intended. His face was inches from hers- his hand warm.

"Hermione," Draco smiled, "I haven't hated you for the longest time. Better?"

"It's gonna take some work," She grinned, her heart fluttering when he laughed. And then he was leaning closer, getting rid of whatever distance existed. His lips were on hers and his hand on her cheek edged around to the back of her neck and kept her braced against him. His other hand found her hip and she busied herself by running her fingers through his hair and the tiny ones on the back of his neck.

Draco kissed her like a starved man and she wondered how long he had felt this way. He was strong and passionate and held her like he never planned on letting go. She wasn't too keen on the idea, either.

When they did finally pull away, Draco smiled. Smiled. Granted, he had been doing it a lot on this trip, but it was still a sight to see since he did it so rarely. Hermione felt giddy, like when you spot a rainbow after a storm.

"Hermione," he said, her name sliding from his lips easily. Like he'd always used her first name, "You're sure you don't hate me? After what a twat I was-"

She cut him off with a kiss. One he didn't seem to mind very much.

A/N WELL? You should have seen it coming since the opening quote. If you don't read my quotes, then shame on you. I hope you liked it! You all waited long enough :D

Does anyone watch Merlin? Anyone? Gosh that finale took my heart and crushed it into tiny pieces. That was a horrible way to end the show. Seriously, I hope someone reading this knows what I am talking about.

Super awesome thanks to my lovely reviewers! :D vickifay27, Reipersectoria, Taylor F, alannalove1990, edwardsoneandonlylove, Guest, HarryPotterGeneration, Guest, Honoria Granger, Blah Blah Blah Monster, Lupa Eira, and Loveable Leo.