Hey guys! I'm terribly sorry for the late update but I had an internet problem. Ok, here you go! Chapter 23! [Discl – I can assure you that JKR owns HP]

After tea, they all stood in front of the fireplace, ready to go back.

"It was really lovely to have you all here." Narcissa smiled.

"It was wonderful looking around the Manor except for the bit where…" Pansy trailed off as everyone's eyes flickered to Hermione.

"Oh, leave it!" Hermione said. "It ended well though, didn't it?" she said, a light blush creeping onto her cheeks.

"Oh, yes." Harry said, smirking as much as he could. "It ended beautifully, didn't it?" he asked, sharing a glance with Pansy.

"Yeah." Pansy agreed, her lips forming a smirk. "It ended exceptionally well." She said.

Everyone except Draco and Hermione knew instantly that Harry and Pansy were talking about whatever had happened in the garden, and were very eager to hear about it. Draco and Hermione, on the other hand, were puzzled.

Narcissa's face showed that she was dying to hear all that had happened in the garden.

"Alright, now!" she said. "Draco, you first."

"Ok…." Draco sighed, feeling sad to leave his home. He hugged his mother, bade his father farewell and stepped into the fireplace. He threw in some Floo Powder. "Hogwarts!" he said and then he was gone.

"Hermione dear, you next!" Narcissa said. Narcissa hugged Hermione. Then Hermione too, stepped into the fireplace and was engulfed by the green flames.

"Great!" Narcissa exclaimed and turned to Harry and Pansy. "Tell us." She ordered.

By the time Harry and Pansy told them everything that had happened in the garden, Narcissa was getting mad with joy.

"They kissed?" she asked, still not able to believe her own ears.

Pansy nodded.

"Wonderful, isn't it Lucius?" Narcissa asked, turning to Lucius.

Lucius nodded. "I must say it is a good development."

"I suppose we should be getting back to Hogwarts, then." Theo said.

One by one, they went through the fireplace and arrived in the Head Dorms.

"Whew!" Ginny said as she flopped onto the couch, exhausted. "Today, was great, was it not?"

Ron nodded. "Those little cakes were too good." He said. "I must find out the recipe somehow."

Draco sighed. "She wasn't talking about the food, Weasel." He said.

Everyone laughed.

Theo crashed onto the couch next to Ginny, tired out. "I enjoyed this day thoroughly," he said. "Except for the fact that I'm so tired now." He closed his eyes.

"What part of today did you enjoy, Theo, my boy?" Blaise asked.

"You know," Theo said, not really knowing what he was saying due to his exhausted state. "The part where Malfoy and Granger, the two love-birds kiss." He said, still with his eyes closed, not realizing what he had just said.

Ginny groaned inwardly. Firstly, she blamed Blaise for asking Theo. And now, the idiot had just told them everything. Draco and Hermione exchanged a startled glance.

"Uh.." Ginny said. "I think I'll head up to bed." She said and started to walk with all her speed.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Hermione said, catching her by the elbow. "Not so fast Ginny!" she said.

"Now," Draco began. "Could any of you care to explain what is going on here?" he said angrily.

The anger in his tone made Theo jerk his eyes open and realise what he had just revealed.

"It's… uh.. nothing." Ron said.

"Just tell the truth, Ron." Hermione said.

"I told you it was nothing Hermione." Ron insisted.

"Ronald Billius Weasley!" Hermione screeched. "Tell me!" she demanded.

Ron looked terrified under Hermione's glare. He shot Harry and Pansy, who were slowly making their way towards the staircase unnoticed, an apologetic look and began to speak. "Harry and Pansy, they…" Ron stuttered.

"You eavesdropped once more?" Draco asked exasperatedly, looking around for Pansy and Harry, who were currently mid-way up the stairs.

"Yeah. We.." was all Harry could say.

"Well.." Pansy started. "We figured we should go find out. So…"

"Oh, God!" Hermione said startled. "Please tell me you didn't tell Draco's parents!" she said, her eyes pleading with Pansy's.

"We.. We told them." Pansy stated.

"Oh, no!" Hermione collapsed onto the couch in dismay. "I don't know what they're going to think about me!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, don't worry!" Draco said, waving his hand. He then walked to the stairs and began to make his way up to his room. Hermione, meanwhile had recovered a bit and was starting to stand up. "Listen." she said sternly. "None of you are going to breathe a word about this to anyone." She said. The others nodded. Hermione gave them all one last glare and moved to the staircase. She climbed upstairs and the others followed her silently. Pansy, Blaise and Theo moved into their rooms and Ron and Ginny went into theirs, just opposite the Slytherins. Harry and Hermione were standing in the middle. [A/N : Scroll down to the bottom to see the arrangement of the rooms]

"Hermione," Harry started.

By now, everyone, including Draco, was listening carefully from their rooms. Harry knew they were listening, but Hermione was completely oblivious.

"What is it, Harry?" Hermione asked, already exhausted by the events of the day.

"You know," Harry said. "Draco's good for you." he stated plainly. Draco felt himself stiffen inside his room.

"What?" Hermione said incredulously. "Well, whatever you think, should we really be having this conversation right here?" she asked.

"Yes." Harry said firmly. "Just for a minute, Hermione."

"Alright." Hermione sighed.

"Hermione," Harry began. "All of us think the same. We can all sense it. He cares about you and you also care about him deeply. You should have seen how worried he was when you fainted." Harry said.

"Oh!" Hermione said. "I'd love to, but I don't suppose that can happen now, can it?" she asked, yawing widely.

"It can." Harry said. Everyone watched as Harry took out his wand, and pulled out his memories and projected them on the wall.

Hermione was astonished. Seriously, since when had Draco Malfoy started to care this much for her? And what about him catching her as she fell? Ridiculous. And Harry saying that he's good for me. "Absolute nonsense." She decided in her mind. But still, a part of her was disagreeing, telling her to think of that kiss in the garden.

Harry watched as Hermione analyzed each and every fact in her mind.

"I've just told you what the others and I feel." He said, catching her attention. "The rest is up to you two. Night Mione!" He said and walked off to his room. But after closing his door, he opened it slightly a minute later, only to see Hermione walking towards Draco's door.

"Draco!" she called, knocking. Now, everyone was peeking out of a slight crack in their doors.

"Open up!" she called.

"Oh, god!" Draco thought. "I don't want to talk with her right now. Maybe if I don't answer, she'll go away assuming that I'm sleeping."

"Draco!" Hermione banged on the door. "I know you're not asleep yet. Open the door!"

"Damn!" Draco swore. He opened the door. "What is it?" he asked.

"I just wanted to ask you…." she hesitated. "What was it that Tinky meant earlier at the Manor?" she spat out in one breath.

Draco looked down at his feet. So she hadn't forgotten about this yet.

"Tell me!" Hermione demanded.

"She…." Draco said, trying to make up some lie. He was an expert at this, but no lie seemed to come to him at the moment.

Hermione studied him. "Draco!" she said.

Draco decided to just tell her what Tinky had said. What could possibly go wrong?

"She said that you were going to be her new mistress." He stated simply.

"And what does that supposed to mean?" she shot back.

He smirked in return. The others were smirking from their rooms too. "I think you can figure that one out by yourself." He said, enjoying the feeling.

A blush covered her cheeks as she thought it out.

Draco smirked even wider. "Say it." He said. She kept her mouth shut, so he spoke again.

"See," He said. "My mother's their mistress currently. That's because she's my father's wife. And my father is their master. After my father, I'm going to be their new master. So just tell me how you would be related to me." He finished as he saw another shade of red cover her cheeks.

"You… You…" she said, staring at the floor.

"I? I what, Hermione?" he asked, enjoying doing this to her. "Tell me!"

"You'll…" she stammered.

"Yes, please continue." He said. "I'll," he said slowly. She didn't open her mouth. "be," he spelled out another word, trying to make her say it. But she refused to. "your," he said.

"Oh shut up!" she covered her face with both her hands to hide her blush and stalked off to her room. Just as she reached for the doorknob, she heard his voice.

"Husband." He said, his smirk growing wider and wider by the second. She turned to look at his smirking face for a split second and then dashed into her room and shut the door.

In that one split second, Draco had seen her face covered in various shades of crimson. He smirked to himself and was about to go into his room, while he heard voices.

"Wonderful!"

"Great!"

"Couldn't be better!"

"What a conversation!"

"The Slytherin Price – "

"And The Gryffindor Princess."

He turned around to find the others walking out of their rooms.

"You know, this is becoming a really bad habit of yours." Draco said.

"Oh, it's alright." Ron said.

"Yeah!" Theo agreed. "This bad habit is really good!"

Blaise, meanwhile stopped in front of Hermione's door and knocked slightly. When she didn't answer, he called out,

"Mrs. Malfoy, are you in?"

This elicited a roar of laughter from everyone, including Draco.

Then Pansy joined Blaise. "It is Tinky, Mistress!" she squealed in a high-pitched voice.

Hermione finally opened the door.

"Oh, there you are!" Ginny said.

"We were all worried what had happened to you, Mrs. Malfoy." Harry said, grinning.

"Your husband's been worried sick." Theo said and once more, they all burst out into laughter.

Hermione covered her face once more to hide her stupid blush from showing and went back into her room.

"Okay, okay!" Draco instructed. Everyone stopped laughing. "I think my wife has had enough for one night." He said.

The others couldn't help laughing.

"Yeah, I think she's had enough." Pansy said, and they all went to bed.

Draco lay on his bed and thought. "I quite like the idea of Hermione being the next Mrs. Malfoy." He thought as sleep overcame him.

Hermione felt her eyelids drooping as she lay on her bed. "Mrs. Malfoy?" she thought. "Honestly! How can these guys even think like that? But I like the idea." She thought as sleep enveloped her.

The next morning, Hermione woke up a bit late. She looked at her clock sleepily and realized that she had woken up late. She sat up all at once.

"I woke up late!" she said.

She rushed to her closet and bolted to the bathroom. She brushed her teeth and took a quick shower.

Just as she came out of the bathroom, she saw Harry making his way up the stairs. As soon as he saw her, he shouted, "She's ready, guys!" he said.

"Ok!" came Ginny's voice from the common room.

"Good morning Mione!" Harry greeted.

"Good morning Harry!" she replied.

"Are you okay?" he asked concernedly. "You're never one to wake up late."

Hermione smiled. Harry always cared about her. It felt so nice to have a brother.

"Oh, I'm fine Harry." She said. "Just slept in a little."

"Ok." He said and they walked towards the common room.

Hermione knew Harry had asked her indirectly whether she had had any nightmares last night. She hadn't had nightmares, but she had been dreaming about a certain Draco Malfoy. Her thinking was broken by the sound of Blaise's voice.

"Good morning Mrs. Malfoy!" he said.

Hermione's eyes automatically drifted towards Draco. He was smirking at her. She sighed.

"Good morning Blaise." She replied.

Draco, meanwhile was thinking about something else. He was able to sleep wonderfully well last night. It was because all his dreams had consisted of a particular Hermione Granger. He stopped his thinking at the sound of Theo's voice.

"Hey, Mr. Malfoy!" Theo called. "Won't you greet your wife?" he asked.

Draco resumed his smirking. "Of course, why not?" he said and turned his face towards Hermione. "Good morning, my lovely wife." He greeted.

Hermione was tired of it by now. So she decided to play along. "Good morning to you too, my dear husband." She replied. Everyone burst into laughter.

"HOLY COW!" Ron shouted.

"What?" Pansy asked, startled.

"Breakfast started five minutes ago!" he exclaimed. "Come on! Let's go before I miss any important dish!" he said and began making his way towards the door.

Everyone laughed and followed him down to the Great Hall. Nothing could stop Ron when it came to food.

They sat down at their places and started to eat. Ron stuffed every edible substance visible into his mouth. After they had finished, Dumbledore stood up from his seat.

"I have a very important matter to tell all the seventh and sixth years." He said. "I request all the other students to make their way to their respective classes." He said.

The students of the first five years shuffled out of the Great Hall as the sixth and seventh years eyed Dumbledore curiously.

Done! Just so you know, this is how the arrangement of rooms is:

Review, guys!

WC Pansy Blaise Theo Draco

WC COMMON AREA

WC (where Hermione talks with Harry)

WC Ron Harry Ginny Mione