This chapter is dedicated to my best friend Becca (Gonnabefamous...Read her story...it's called "Losing Time" . it's amazing) She is a humongo snape fan and I made him nice all for her... and because she is "doomed to shortness" so I stole that tidbit from her. Seriously, she's itty bitty... she walks around at a tiny height of 5'1....gotta love her... anyways... keep reviewing... I love you all...

Dracoandhermioneforever88 thank you so much!! I'm glad you like it... I'll update as soon as possible but I have bball and homework so it might take a bit... my goal is to update every weekend... but idk for sure... So keep reading!

Karana Belle thanks... I'm glad you like snape. I love that guy and I'm trying to win him some sympathy here... thanks for reviewing...keep reading......oh yea and I thought it was SO cute how it said "resident at st. mungo's" lol

Lelimo I have NO idea what gd means... so review again and let me know lol... but I'll be updating as much as possible so don't worry.

Abbi I'm glad you like it...I'll update as soon as possible

asiangrl91caren Hashleyneo31gonnabefamousthanks for your review...keep reviewing

Fallen-Angels-Whisper I'm glad I had that affect on you...it's good to know because that's what I was going for. Oh, and as for Draco beating up Harry, well he got beat up somewhat...but...trust me, he's got a lot more coming to him...keep reviewing!

Sundaym0rningomg thanks for reviewing so much! I'm REALLY glad you like my story as much as you do and I plan to update as much as I can so just keep reading and reviewing!

I LOVE YOU ALLLLLLLL!!!!!! 3333

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Draco and Hermione were walking through the dungeons hand in hand. Draco was terribly curious as to why they were 'paying a snape a visit.' Hermione, along with the rest of the gryffindors, had always hated snape with a burning passion, and now Hermione was going out of her way to see him. "Um, Hermione?" She looked up to him, an eyebrow raised in question, "Yes?" Draco stopped walking and turned to her. "Why are we visiting snape? What happened to the big bad potions master? I never thought you'd ever want to see him." Hermione laughed at him, "Oh right, you missed all of that didn't you?" He looked at her in confusion. Hermione shook her head at him and began telling him the whole story. She watched in amusement as he gaped at her after she told him about the effort he had made for her. "Snape did all that...for a Gryffindor?! I couldn't even see him doing that for a slytherin, let alone a Gryffindor! I don't believe it..." He shook his head and started walking again. Hermione laughed at him and ran a few steps to catch up to him. He was walking very fast and she practically had to sprint to keep up with him. She didn't think that he realized that his strides surpassed hers by about 4 feet.

"Draco!! Slow down will ya?!" He looked down at her small figuring running to keep up. He laughed and slowed down for her. "Sorry about that, forgot how small you were." Hermione laughed and slapped him playfully on the arm. "Come on now Draco. I can help it if I'm doomed to shortness." He laughed at her, put his arm around her shoulders, and continued moving, making sure to move at a speed possible for his little girlfriend. Finally they turned the corner and Snape's office came into view. She sped up in anticipation. She couldn't wait to thank him for everything, he had helped her so much in the past few days, and she didn't know if she could thank him enough.

She walked up to the door and stopped in front of it. She lifted her fist and let it hover a few inches from the solid wood surface before knocking on it politely. She heard a cold voice from the inside, "Enter." She took a deep breath and pushed opened the door. She took a few steps inside and immediately felt the temperature drop. 'What is with this man and his sub-zero temperatures?!' She instinctively wrapped her arms around herself. She walked towards his desk and found it empty. 'What the heck! He was just in here! He called me in!' She stopped walking and glanced around the room, searching for her professor. "Over here Miss Granger." She followed the sound of the voice to the far end of the classroom. There he was. Her vindictive potions master was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, with an expectant look on his face. "How may I help you?"

She couldn't believe she was about to do this. She walked up to him and didn't stop walking until there was only about a foot in between them. "Professor Snape, sir, I came here to thank you. For everything. You made such an effort to make me comfortable and you were very successful. Not having to see Harry or even hear him for that matter made everything much more comfortable for me and if it hadn't been for you I wouldn't have had that. But the main reason I'm here is to thank you for what you did the night when Harry...when he tried to...well..." She slapped herself mentally for the tears she felt forming in her eyes. She took a deep breath and continued, "thank you for saving me professor. If it hadn't been for you...well...I don't even want to think about what may have happened to me. For all we know, you just may have saved my life. You rescued me, gave me your cloak to keep me warm, and then you made the unnecessary, but appreciated, effort to work out seating arrangements. So...thank you very much Professor Snape. You have no idea how much I appreciate your kind actions." She had been looking at her feet while she was speaking, afraid to see his reaction. But now, she reluctantly moved her eyes from her hands to his face and was surprised to see him with a subtle, but noticeable smile on his face.

"It was my pleasure Miss Granger. I know I haven't always been so nice to you and your friends, but no one deserves that kind of treatment, not even gryffindors." Hermione smiled at him, and then turned to leave. She stopped at the door and spun towards him. She found herself in a very good mood after this so decided to show it.

"See you tomorrow Professor Snape!" She said this in a voice so cheerful that it made him cringe. But seeing that the young girl that had fallen victim to attempted rape in such good spirits made the nausea disappear and once again Snape found himself smiling. Not by choice obviously.

Hermione and Draco left the dungeons and headed out towards the grounds. Hermione loved going outside at night, the location of the school, though unknown to anyone other than the founders, was in a place where the sky was clear and the stars visible. Making it a very nice place for a romantic getaway. "Hermione?" Hermione turned towards Draco when he called her. He reached inside his robes and before she could see what he pulled out, his hands shot behind his back.

"Whatcha got?!" Hermione loved surprises. She ran up to him and tried desperately to reach around him, but every time she got close, he'd just switch hands, or lift it about his head, where they both knew she'd never reach it. After a few minutes of Hermione's fruitless attempts to reach whatever her dear slytherin was hiding she gave up. She huffed, crossed her arms over her chest, and stuck out her bottom lip in a pout that Draco found terribly adorable. Draco took advantage of her position and darted behind her and wrapped the blindfold he had had in his hands around her eyes. She screamed and started to feel around for him. Draco laughed at her. She looked so foolish reaching around for him when he was at least 3 feet in the opposite direction. Hermione lifted her hands to the blindfold and started to remove it.

"Ohhh no you don't!" Draco ran up to her and poked her in her side, causing her arms to fly to her side to protect herself. Draco took this opportunity to flick his wand at the blindfold, making it impossible to remove by anyone but himself. "You might at well give up, that blindfolds not going anywhere," he told her arrogantly, proud that he had thought to charm it that way. Hermione growled in the direction she thought he was; which just happened to be the right way, and crossed her arms again. "Is there a reason behind this or do you take pride in torturing me?" He laughed, "A little bit of both." Hermione then made a noise somewhere along the lines of "PSH!" then said, "Well, are we actually going to go somewhere?" Draco smirked, he loved how impatient she was, and it was practically the only side of her that remotely resembled a slytherin. He walked to her and grabbed her hand. He started to walk towards his surprise. While he had been in the hospital wing, he had spent a lot of his time staring out the window. He had spotted a small secluded area of the garden that he had never noticed before. He memorized the path to it and made a mental note to take Hermione there as soon as he got out of the hospital. Now he would finally be able to take her. He began to walk the path he knew all too well, with Hermione slightly behind him, her free hand feeling around so she didn't walk right into something. He smiled at her and slowed down a bit. He let go of her hand and moved behind her. He had finally reached his destination and couldn't wait to see her reaction. He untied the blindfold but still held it around her eyes. He went around her and removed the blindfold. Hermione's eyes widened and her hand flew to her mouth as she gasped. "Oh Draco, this is amazing!"

Draco had led her to a large area of the garden. It was completely covered with soft, thick grass save for the wild flowers that sprouted up in random places and the pond in the middle. The pond was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. The water was covered with lilies and was shimmering in the moonlight. There were small fairies hovering over the lake, so small that all you could see were the sparkling trails they left behind as they flew gracefully over the surface. Draco watched as she moved slowly forward, observing the beauty surrounding her. She walked to the edge of the lake and he couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was. The light of the moon was surrounding her, making her glow. Fairies had come to investigate her and were flying in circles around her, only making her look more angelic. Draco couldn't stop himself. He walked towards her, the fairies scattering as he approached and taking their places on the lake. When he reached her, he took her hand gently and when she turned to him, he leaned down and kissed her. She was surprised at first but quickly recovered. She wrapped her arms around his neck and felt as his found their way around her waist. They kissed each other hungrily, having not been able to do so for several days. Hermione moaned in pleasure and moved closer. Eventually, they both pulled back, reluctantly of course, but oxygen was necessary so they really had no choice in the matter. She smiled at him and followed when he started to lead her to a small blanket in the middle of a patch of flowers. She sat down next to him on the blanket and just looked at him. He looked at her and their eyes locked. She always seemed to get lost in his eyes. They were usually cold and emotionless but now they were swirling with a mix of feeling. He gazed into her dark brown eyes; they were always so soft and kind. Even when they were enemies and she was glaring, he could always see the kindness hiding behind the hate. He leaned in and kissed her lightly on the nose before falling back onto the blanket with a sigh. She watched him fall backwards, and followed suit, laying her head on his chest.

Draco and Hermione laid there for about an hour and a half but it was not nearly long enough. Hermione had her head on his shoulder and he was carelessly stroking her hair. She was so comfortable, she could stay there forever. Draco remembered at the beginning of the year when he was wondering to himself if her hair was as soft as it looked. And now he was playing with it, and it wasn't as soft as he thought. It was much much softer. He smiled to himself at the memory. He had thought the bet would be very difficult. Hermione had never talked to him other than to fight with him, and he had gotten beaten up by her on numerous occasions. He never thought it'd actually work. Well, he figured it'd work in time, but he never thought he'd be so happy with it. He thought it would be a living hell for him to be with her...but now, it was a living hell for him to be away from her. He thought about the bet...if it hadn't been for Hermione, he'd probably had given in to pansy somewhere along the line and would be with her now. He shuddered inwardly at the thought of kissing that pug-faced whore rather than Hermione. He then realized just how happy he was with her...you couldn't pay him to go back to the ways things used to be. He couldn't imagine having her glare like that again. He couldn't imagine seeing the hate burning in her eyes and having it directed at him. He couldn't imagine having her call him Malfoy either. You only call people by their last name when you really hate them, it's like they're not worth you calling them their first name. It would break his heart to go back to that. If she found out about the bet, she'd probably never talk to him again.

The thought made him unconsciously hold her tighter. He promised himself he'd never let her go. She was worth way too much to him and to have her slip away like that would kill him. Draco figured if he told her straight out that it was a bet, but that he had fallen for her she would understand. But she'd still probably be mad. But even more so if she found out from someone else, in a worse way. No, he wouldn't let that happen. He was going to tell her.

"Hermione?"

"Yes, Draco?"

"Look, there's something I really need to tell you..." He trailed off, seriously considering letting it be.

"Of course, anything." She propped herself up on her elbows and looked down at him, waiting for him to talk.

"Well...ok...well ya see..." He trailed off again, shaking his head at himself for being so nervous. She would understand.

"Oh Draco, relax, you know you can tell me anything." She said, smiling kindly.

"Yeah I know...ok," 'Here goes nothing...' "Ok, at the beginning at the year..." 'No, I'm not ruining the moment, I'll tell her...later...yeah...later', he shook his head slightly, "Never mind, it's not important." Hermione shrugged.

"Whatever you say, Draco." Draco felt somewhat troubled that he hadn't just gotten it over with, but it was a slight relief to not have to tell her.

After sitting together, happy just to be in contact with one another, Hermione abruptly sat up, seemingly deep in thought. Draco looked at her in confusion, "What's up?" Hermione looked down at him, brow furrowed, "I'm hungry." Draco laughed with her then stood up, helping her up as he went. He flicked his wand at the blanket, causing it to disappear. He held out his hand, which she immediately took, intertwining her fingers with his own. He looked down at her, "I guess we should fix that then." He then leaned down and they shared one last passionate kiss before ending their romantic night and leading her back to the castle.

Hermione and Draco sat together on the couch. They both were facing the center and their legs were tangled together. They were both lost in books when a loud pounding caused them both to jump. They looked at each other in confusion, wondering where the obnoxious noise had come from. They listened, waiting for it to come again...silence. They both shrugged and went back to their book. A few minutes later, the loud pounding sounded again. Hermione was still confused, "What the bloody hell is that noise?!" Draco smirked at her, untangled himself from her and walked to the portrait. He opened it and smiled when he saw a furious red head and a triumphant looking black haired boy. Hermione stood up when she saw how angry Ron was. She ran up the door, stopping next to Draco. "Ron! What's wrong?" She looked at him, concern very visible in her eyes. Ron just crossed his arms and turned away. She looked at Blaise, "What's going on?" Blaise was grinning goofily and held out his fist. Hermione looked at it in confusion and her jaw dropped when he opened in it. There, in the middle of Blaise's palm were the left over pieces of Ron's shattered king.

Hermione started laughing and Ron spun around and glared at her. "It's most definitely not funny! I have never ever lost Mione! EVER!!!" He threw his hands in the air and sighed in exasperation when Hermione continued to laugh. "The...first time...you ever lost...a game of wizard chess...was to a... SLYTHERIN!!" She managed to get out in between laughs. Ron just gave her a snooty look and pushed past her into the common room. Blaise followed close behind him, rattling the pieces in his hand.

"Your poor poor king. Just didn't see my knight coming!" He jumped back laughing when Ron spun around and swung his fist at him. Ron plopped on the couch after missing yet again and crossed his arms. Blaise sat next to him and continued rattling the pieces right next to Ron's ears. Hermione saw a smile tugging at the corners of Ron's lips and after a few seconds, he finally smiled. He turned to Blaise, "Yeah, Yeah, rub it in." Blaise smirked at him, "Silly Gryffindor, what on earth do you I've been doing since your darling king met his untimely demise?" The four of them laughed and then just sat the rest of the night talking about random things and laughing about things that had absolutely nothing to do with anything. It was a great night...

They had many more nights than this and soon enough, these four were very close. Every class Slytherin and Gryffindor were together, the four of them sat together. Draco was no longer hesitant to be close with Hermione in public. Rather than sending her subtle winks or smiles, he's sit next to her and drape his arm across her shoulders, with not a care in the world. Sometimes he'd even sneak a kiss when the teacher was turned around. At first slytherins and gryffindors alike were very skeptical. Some even mean about it. Most of the girls were jealous beyond all reason. Hermione Granger, formerly known as the unpopular bookworm, was now dating Draco Malfoy, star quidditch player and hottest, most popular guy in all of Hogwarts. But Lavender, Lavender wasn't jealous for a second. She had always been so nice to Hermione and now she was so happy for her. When she first heard that they were going public, her exact response was high pitched squealing, and her jumping up and down clapping. Then, she told them both how happy she was for them, gave them both, yes even Draco, huge hugs and skipped away. Draco at first was very annoyed with Lavender. He found her never-ending happiness to be very irritating. But Hermione was very close with her, so he accepted that he had to get used to her and before he knew it, she was also in their group. She was usually the comic relief in serious moments. Harry had been suspended for two weeks for his attack and had to spend those weeks with the whole of the Order of the Phoenix. Hermione couldn't imagine having to go to the OotP Headquarters for a few weeks randomly in the middle of the year and when asked the reason having to tell them that he had attempted to rape his best friend. But whenever Harry was seen, heard, mentioned, or anything of the sort, an uncomfortable silence would often envelop them. However, Lavender wouldn't have it. She had a habit of randomly breaking out in song when she was uncomfortable. Usually people were annoyed by this, but Draco, Hermione, Blaise, and Ron found it very entertaining and would applaud when she was done with her songs. Her songs always made them laugh, especially considering she sang very off key, making up words as she went.

One night, the five of them were hanging out in the head common room and there was a knock on the portrait. Draco opened the door and was surprised when a small girl, about 5 feet, with blonde hair and striking blue eyes collapsed into his arms, crying. He had never had anything going on with this girl. He had grown up with her and they had both been appointed future death eaters before they had the mind to make the decision for themselves. A few years back, they had both decided that they didn't want to waste their lives cowering to the lowly form of one scared to face a 16 year old boy. She was his best friend other than Blaise and seeing her like this tore him apart. He put his arm around her waist and led her to the couch. Hermione had immense trust in Draco so seeing him like this didn't bother her. She'd actually heard plenty of stories about this girl and recognized her immediately. She had tears streaming down her face and was trembling. She wasn't making crying noises of any sort but there were tears running freely down her face, her eyes were wide open and staring straight ahead, as if she was staring at the thing she feared most. Her bright blue eyes were glazed over and she was shaking. Draco was kneeling in front of her, shaking her by the shoulders.

"ELLA! Ella!!!" She still was dazed, just staring. Draco stood up and took a few steps back. "Oh God Ella, what happened to you?" Lavender, being completely clueless as to what was going on ran over and sat next to Hermione. She leaned in close, "'Mione, who is that?" Hermione answered her in a whisper, her eyes never leaving the terrified slytherin. "That's Ella Rickman, she grew up with Draco. They're really close." Hermione looked over at Ron and Blaise. Ron was staring at Ella, concern and awe visible in his eyes. Hermione thought she was a very beautiful girl. She was five feet tall and had a figure curvy as a mother. Ron must have agreed. Then she had straight blonde hair, down to her waist and bright blue eyes.

Her eyes than traveled over to Blaise who had the same look in his eyes only he was looking at...Lavender? Hermione nudged lavender and nodded in Blaise's direction. Lavender had been telling Hermione a lot lately how cute she thought Blaise was, and now here he was, staring at her. Lavender looked at him and blushed. He smiled at her and she smiled back. Hermione elbowed Lavender and Lavender shouted in pain and sprung to her feet, holding her arm. Hermione put her feet on Lavender's spot as soon as she stood up.

Lavender looked down, "Hey now, that's my seat!" Hermione smirked, "Sorry Lav, no room. Let's see...where can you sit? Oh look at thattttt, there's an empty seat over there... right next to Blaise...see it?" Lavender turned around and Hermione took advantage of it and pushed her towards him with her foot. Lavender laughed and sat next to Blaise. When they were soon deep in conversation, Hermione turned her attention back to Draco and Ella.

Ella had snapped back to reality somewhere in the lavender and Blaise thing. She and Draco were talking in hushed tones and Draco looked positively worried. He turned towards Hermione and frowned. He then tried to cover up his worry, to no avail. "Um, Hermione, this is Ella...Ella, Hermione." Hermione stood up, walked over to them, and extended her hand. Ella smiled kindly and shook it. "Hello Hermione, I've heard a lot about you." She then laughed and looked to Draco. Hermione smiled at her and turned to Draco who tried to look innocent. "What, you don't expect me to keep quiet about you do you?" Hermione shook her head and him and turned back to Ella. "What's wrong? Are you alright?" Ella explained that the slytherins were just being really rude to her and had upset her immensely. Hermione didn't quite understand how she could be upset so easily about some teasing, but comforted her nonetheless. She was rubbing her back and going on about how slytherins are no good, double timing... that's as far as she got as soon as she realized she was rather outnumbered. She laughed nervously and said, "Oh just kidding. Gotta love those slytherins. They're so kind and would never dream of turning their backs on their friends...ever...never ever!" She smiled awkwardly and they all laughed at her. "What!? It's true! Ok, not so much, but still, it was a good save you have to admit." They all shook their heads and answered sarcastically, "Surrrre it was, you sure had us fooled." Then they all started laughing and talking again. They all welcomed Ella into their group and were very comfortable together. She and Ron were shamelessly flirting, along with Blaise and Lavender. Heck, by the end of the night, Blaise had asked out Lavender and they were all over each other. Hermione and Draco watched in amusement as Blaise sat with his arm around Lavender and they kissed. They snogged like no one was watching when really there were four people there watching, waiting for them to take their tongues out of each other's mouths long enough to could have an actual conversation. Ella coughed loudly and they both jumped and pulled away, awkwardly looking in the other direction. Draco smirked, "Thank you! I don't know how much longer I could take of watching you two swapping spit."

Potions the following day

During potions they had continued their work on the Polyjuice potion. Draco and Hermione had finished long ago, being that they were top students and Hermione had brewed some successfully her as a second year. Snape gave them permission to silently talk during class after he successfully tested their potion. Hermione gave him a kind smile when he said this, which he subtly returned. Draco smirked at them and shook his head. "Hey, do you think Ron and Ella would make a good couple?" Hermione asked Draco one day during potions.

"Yeah, actually I do. Though I hate to admit it." When he said this Hermione got very excited and clapped her hands quietly.

"Oh oh oh! Let's get them together!!" Draco laughed at how easily excited she was and replied.

"Yeah, ok...but I swear if he does anything to her, I'm gonna kill him. Ella's like my baby sister. I've known her for as long as I can remember and she knows me better than anyone. Same goes for her. She reads me better than anyone. I don't know how she does it. She's the only who can actually, I've always tried to hide it but she always sees past it. It's bloody annoying really." Hermione laughed at him.

"What's so funny, Hermione?" Draco put his hands on his hips and looked at her expectantly. Hermione waved her hand at him, "It's nothing really, nothing at all." Their conversation ended when they heard snape yelling on the other side of the other room.

"Really Mr. Potter, you pour the beetle eyes in, stir clockwise two and half times, then count to four and go on to the next ingredients. Even Longbottom got past that step perfectly. If you can't do something that he did flawlessly, then you are even thicker than I ever imagined possible." He then sneered at Potter and walked over to Seamus and his partner who had just raised their hands, claiming to be finished. After clarifying that they were finished he did something that nearly made all the gryffindors fall off their chairs. He inspected the potion then said, "Well done Mr. Finnigan. I'm glad that some people can manage such a simple potion." He sent a glare in Harry's direction and then continued to the next group. After potions, Harry was walking with Seamus and Dean, much to their dismay, and complaining. "Bloody hell, I always knew snape was mean but he seems to be so much worse lately." Seamus and Dean feigned innocence. Dean spoke first, "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm actually growing rather fond of the ol' man." Seamus nodded, "Yeah, I agree. He used to be really mean and unfair to all of the gryffindors. But now, he's only mean to those who really deserve it." Then they walked away, leaving a furious Harry to walk alone.