Hermione woke to light streaming through the window. She rolled onto her back and looked over at Malfoy. He was asleep on his stomach with his arms tucked under her pillow. He looked peaceful. She held up her finger in front of her. A light white line showed where he had cut her finger to draw blood. Her stomach fluttered with butterflies at his display. When he said those words, she felt all the past malice she felt for him fall away. He was looking at her as an equal and she couldn't be happier. Her body practically screamed for him when he was in the same room with her. The sad part was that she knew everything would change in a few days when they went back to Hogwarts. Draco Malfoy, Slytherin prince could never be seen with the Gryffindor princess. That would be equivalent to North Korea and South Korea getting along. The world would end. If Voldemort couldn't take them down, a relationship between them surely could. Harry and Ron would never approve. The thought made her sad and she let out a deep sigh.

"You ok?" Draco's voice was raspy and deep with sleep.

Her head turned and her breath caught at the calm grey eyes staring back at her.

"Yeah. Just thinking."

"Anything you want to talk about?" He pushed himself up onto his elbows so he was looking down at her.

"No. Just thinking about going back to school."

He groaned and let his head fall onto his arms. "We have four more days, Granger. Don't rush it."

She laughed a little and he looked back up at her.

"You look better this morning. How you feeling?" he asked reaching one arm out to rub her stomach lightly.

"I'm ok." She turned her head away from him as her smile fell.

"Wanna tell me what happened?" His voice was soft, as if he was scared she would pull away.

She didn't respond and just stared at the ceiling intently. She felt him move a little and then he was leaning over her with his chest resting against the side of her body. He brushed a hair out of her face.

"You don't have to. I'm here if you want to tell me about it though."

She looked up at him as he watched her and her chest ached again.

"He grabbed me from behind and shoved me in the bathroom. I didn't even think to scream at that point. I thought… he was just messing around." Draco's hand rested on her neck and he drew small calming circles on it with his finger. "Then he shoved me up against the wall and…" her voice broke.

"It's ok," Draco encouraged.

"He pushed my dress up and… touched me. I told him I didn't want him to."

Draco's hand fisted at the thought of another man touching the beautiful woman lay before him. He took a steadying breath and continued stroking her neck.

"I yelled out and he smacked me. I did it again and he hit me again." Her hand came up to rest on her cheek. "Then he ripped my underwear off… and… I knew it was all over. I screamed so loud."

"Did he…" Draco was too afraid to actually say the words. Thankfully Hermione shook her head.

"You got there just in time. I could feel him pressed against me. I was so scared. I'd never… I didn't want him…" her voice broke off.

Realization dawned on Draco.

"You're… a virgin?" he asked softly, not sure if he was crossing a line.

She nodded and covered her face in her hands as the tears broke free again. His heart broke for her and he gently pulled her arms away from her face and used his thumb to wipe away some of the tears.

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, Hermione. He had no right to lay a finger on you."

"Why are you being so nice?"

Draco contemplated if he should just tell her the truth or hide his feelings a bit.

"I care about you, Hermione. I can't explain it because never in a million years would I have guessed that I would grow to have feelings for you, but you are amazing. You are beautiful, smart, witty, and you keep me on my toes, which is something I don't ever find. I've been fighting these feelings for weeks. I don't want to anymore."

He hesitated a moment before slowly lowering his head to hers. He gently pressed his lips to hers and smiled slightly when he felt her fingers weave into his hair. He didn't push for too much, as he didn't want to scare her after everything that had happened. He slowly broke the kiss before placing one more quick peck on her lips and leaning back.

"You just made everything all better."

He smiled down at her before pushing himself up and sliding out of bed. She watched as he walked over to the bathroom and winked at her before shutting the door.

Hermione and Draco made there way downstairs thirty minutes later to find Blaise sitting at the counter eating and Ginny unloading the dishwasher. They both looked up and smiled. Hermione slipped onto the stool next to Blaise and Draco came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her head. Ginny raised her eyebrows at Hermione who smiled and ducked her head.

"He finally won you over, didn't he?" Blaise said before shoving a bite of cereal in his mouth.

"Blaise!" Draco yelled smacking him in the arm.

"Yeah. He won me over."

"I'll kill you if you do something wrong, you realize that right?" Ginny said looking dead at Draco.

"Uh… yes."

Hermione snorted and Draco gave her a dirty look.

"So, uh, Harry called," Ginny said and quickly turned back around to the sink.

"Yeah? What did he want?"

"Uh, well… imagine his surprised when he stuck his head through the floo and saw Blaise sitting on the couch."

Hermione's mouth dropped open and she saw Draco look at her.

"They're coming over in an hour."

"WHAT!" Hermione yelled, jumping up.

"I may have sort of told them that you were upstairs with Draco."

"Oh god." Hermione let her head fall into her hands. Draco ran a hand over her back.

"He didn't seem mad. He seemed… confused. So they are coming over. I figured we'd have a cookout. We can send Blaise and Draco to the store for some meat and tell them softly before they return."

"Ugh, ok. I'm going to go get changed." Hermione got up and headed towards the other room and up the stairs. Halfway up she felt a hand on her waist.

"I can leave," Draco said from behind her.

"Why would you leave?" she asked turning around to face him and sat down on the step.

"If you don't want him to know about us, I can leave."

"I don't care if he knows about you. I'm just worried about how they are going to react. More so Ron. He's a bit… protective."

Draco leaned forward and Hermione fell back against the stairs.

"So you aren't ashamed of me?" he whispered, his lips only an inch away.

"No. Are you ashamed to have a muggleborn as a … what are we?"

"How about… girlfriend?"

Hermione smiled and nodded just as his lips connected with hers.

An hour later, the boys were off to the store and Ginny and Hermione sat in front of the fireplace on the couch waiting for the boys. A pop and a flash from the fireplace alerted them of their arrival just as Ron, Harry, Luna, Neville, Padma and Pavarti, Dean, Seamus, and a few other friends stepped through. The girls jumped up and gave hugs to everyone. Hermione hugged Harry and he whispered in her ear.

"Are you sure it's what you want?"

Hermione pulled back and smiled at him.

"He's changed."

"I don't love the idea, but I'll give him a chance."

"Thank you Harry."

The group sat down around the living room and started chatting. Twenty minutes later Luna broke the ice.

"So Hermione, you are dating Draco Malfoy?" she said in her dreamlike quality.

The entire room fell silent and turned their attentions to her.

"Uh, yeah. He's a lot different than you all remember." Ginny nodded in agreeance.

"Different how? He's a Deatheater," Seamus said.

"He switched sides if you don't remember, in the final battle. And he's different. I promise. You'll see."

"Where is he anyway?" Ron asked as he made a face.

"We sent him and Blaise to get the food for the cookout so we could have a minute with you."

"When will they be back?" Dean asked just as the front door opened to reveal Blaise and Draco carrying bags of groceries. Ginny and Hermione jumped up and went over to take a few bags. Draco looked up at her, searching her face for any sign of stress. She gave him a small smile. He leaned forward and kissed her cheek before turning towards the group.

"Hey." He gave a nod of his head and followed Hermione towards the kitchen.

Every person in the room was staring with their mouth open.

"Told you," Ginny said as she laughed and headed towards the kitchen.

Everyone got up to follow them. Hermione was leaning into the refrigerator putting the food away. When she stood up she felt two strong arms wrap around her neck and shoulders. Her mind flashed to the night before and before she could stop it a blood curdling scream escaped her mouth. The arms instantly let go and she burst into tears.

"Excuse me!" Draco's voice filtered into her head as he pushed his way through everyone in the kitchen and turned Hermione to face him.

He leaned down a little so he could look in her eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"He… his arms… my neck… I'm sorry." Realization flickered in his eyes and he pulled her in to him.

Everyone watched as Draco whispered into her ear and rubbed her back in slow methodical circles. Draco looked over at Ginny who was standing with her hand on her chest and a worried look marring her features.

"What's going on?" Harry asked quietly.

"Love, do you want to tell him?" Draco whispered in her ear.

Hermione shook her head. "Ginny can. I want to go upstairs for a minute."

Draco looked over at Ginny who nodded and then Draco turned and led Hermione out of the room and upstairs to her bedroom. He quietly shut the door and then climbed on to her bed, opening his arms to her for invitation. She crawled to him and buried her head in his chest as they tangled their legs together.

"I didn't mean to react like that. I just… I like, flashed back."

Draco grabbed her chin and lifted her head up to look at him.

"Don't apologize. It's completely understandable."

"You're… perfect," she whispered.

He smiled lightly at her. "I'm far from perfect."

"You are to me. Thank you for being here. I know it can't be easy being surrounded by Gryffindors and Ravenclaws."

"I guess I better get use to it."

"You will?"

"Well I can't expect you to come to the dark side… Slytherin… now can I?" he smirked.

"I like Blaise."

"True. I'm sure you'll like some of them."

"It's going to be hard. Not everyone is going to accept us."

"That's ok. I don't need their approval."

"What about your mom? I know your dad is… out of the picture. But what about her?"

"My mom just wants me to be happy."

"Even if it soils the bloodline."

"I haven't proposed yet."

She smiled at him and he ran a finger down her jaw line.

"Baby… I'm going to kiss you now."

"Baby?"

"Mhmm." His lips met hers in a soft kiss.

She opened her lips a bit and nibbled on his bottom lip. Draco took the hint and opened his mouth as their tongues came together. A moan rumbled up from Draco's chest and Hermione smiled against his mouth. It had been a long time since she felt like this about another person. Draco couldn't remember the last time he had been happy. Hermione made him happy. The pureblood and the muggleborn. Draco wasn't sure if it would work out, but he would die trying to make it. His happiness depended on it.