Fact 1: Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling

Fact 2: I am not her.

Conclusion: It isn't mine.

A/N: I wish I had some awesome excuse for why it's been so long since I've updated, but I don't. All I can say are things I'm sure you've heard before- but that doesn't make them any less true. School has been beyond crazy, but is, thankfully, coming to an end this week. With that and the fact that I've been sick off and on for about a month, and writing just hasn't happened. I really am sorry, though, and I DO realize how frustrating this is... you are free to call me ugly names if you like :) I do hope to do better now that school is ending. Plus, I wont be working for a few weeks, so I should have more free time.

The night after my conversation with Harry, I cried myself to sleep for the first time in a long time. I did manage to drag myself down to the Dining Hall, but only because I didn't want Draco to worry.

It was a wasted effort.

He took one look at me and knew something was wrong. I picked at my food for a few minutes, trying to concentrate on anything to keep me from bursting into tears right then and there. Every time I looked up, Draco was looking at me. I tried to smile at him once, but the look on his face told me he wasn't buying it. Finally, he caught my eye and jerked his head toward the door. I followed him out, all too aware that half of the Dining Hall was watching. Briefly, I wondered if Ron had attempted to hex him or if he was waiting for at least a slightly smaller audience.

Draco leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. He looked at me expectantly, with one eyebrow raised. For a second, he looked every bit as arrogant and condescending as he ever had. For some reason, that made me smile.

Finally, he spoke.

"Is it me?" He demanded, his tone harsher than I was used to.

"If what you?" I asked, my brow furrowed.

"You are clearly upset." He said, gesturing towards me. "I feel like it's a fair question: is it because of me?" This time his voice was softer, a question rather than a demand.

Something inside of me broke a little when I saw the hurt look on his face. I wanted to make him feel better, and I tried to smile, but suddenly I couldn't hold it in anymore. I closed the short distance between us and rested my head against him just as the tears broke through. The salt water quickly soaked through his shirt, but he just stood there and held me against him until I pulled away slowly and the tears started to subside. He put his hands on my waist and held me slightly away from him as he looked me over.

"Come on" He said after a second. He took my hand and led me down the hallway. He pulled me into a room I had never noticed- tucked in the corner- it looked like an unused office. Draco sat on the large desk at the front of the room and pulled me close to him so that his legs were on either side of me.

"Now" He said, looking at me pointedly, "What is it I've done to make you so upset? Whatever it is, I'm fairly certain it wasn't intentional."

I shook my head, but at first didn't say anything. I didn't know if I even wanted to tell him; I wasn't sure how he would react.

"Harry talked to me earlier." I said, looking down. "He… said some things."

Draco's face instantly hardened. He raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

"He said he just wanted to warn me because of Ron. Apparently he has… made some threats, I guess."

In one movement, Draco pushed me away carefully and was off the desk.

"He threatened you?" He demanded. His eyes were cold and his face was hard. He was facing slightly toward the door, and I knew all it would take would be a nod of me head and he would be gone.

"No" I said, reaching for his hand. "He didn't threaten me. He threatened you."

He turned toward me and his face softened. He pulled me toward him and ran his hands up and down my sides.

"You know", He said in my ear. "I'm a big boy. I can take care of myself."

I nodded against his chest.

"Is that all?" He asked.

I nodded again. I would probably tell him the other things Harry said, but not now. I knew I would just get upset a gain.

When I got back to the common room, I made a point not to look at anyone. I didn't want to see the anger on Ron's face, or even worse, the disappointment on Harry's.

I made it to my room and was in the bed before the crying returned. I just didn't know what to do anymore. I would have never thought it was possible to be so happy and so miserable at the same time.

Still, even with my tear filled nights and mixed-up emotions, the world continued to turn and time continued to pass, just as my mom had always told me it would. I worked on staying on top of my school work, and started becoming the kind of girl I always said I would never be- spending all my time with my boyfriend. The only condolence I could offer myself was that I didn't really have a lot of choices. People weren't exactly lining up to hang out with me.

And then Saturday morning came and Draco had quidditch...the last game of the year. I was torn; I wanted to watch, but who would I sit with? Even if I did get the courage up to go and sit with Ginny, all the Gryffindors would be cheering for Ravenclaw- cheering against Slytherin and against Draco. Besides, I knew I wasn't ready to face Harry and Ron again. Draco said I could sit with his friends, Blaise and Silas, but I wasn't so sure. Images of Pansy and her friends finally getting revenge on me for "stealing" Draco kept flashing through my mind.

And so, I had myself all geared up to say no, when he came to me just before he headed out to the quidditch pitch.

"Wish me luck." He whispered in my ear from behind me.

"I would…" I said, playfully, "But I can't see your face, and I would hate to wish luck to the wrong person."

He squeezed his arms around me and leaned in even closer.

"You better know who it is… who else grabs you in empty corridors?"

I chuckled softly and turned around in his arms so that I was facing him. I reached up and kissed him lightly on the lips.

"Good luck" I said, grinning at him.

"You're going to be there, right?" He asked, looking at me hopefully.

I sighed and looked at him without answering. I hadn't planned on it, but he looked like he really wanted me there, so I smiled and nodded.

A smile broke out across his face, and I suddenly realized that it was worth it. He didn't smile like that often, and if sitting miserably through a quidditch game was all it took – I would gladly accept it.

"Great. Okay, I gotta run, but I told Blaise and Silas to save you a seat."

I guess he saw my face fall slightly because he rolled his eyes slightly before continuing. "They aren't evil, Hermione, not any more than I am. I promise they'll take care of you. And if they don't … if they, or anyone else bothers you, you know all you have to do is tell me. Right?"

I bit my lip and nodded. He was right- his friends weren't evil; he wouldn't be leaving me with them if they were, so what was I so scared of?

Walking into the Slytherin section of the stands was completely surreal. It wasn't that everyone glared at me- that was something I was used to- it was just that I didn't really know anyone. Sure, I knew who several of them were, just from having classes with them, but there were a lot of Slytherin students that I didn't even know their names. Still, I swallowed the urge to turn around and run and glanced around, trying to look for Blaise in the crowd.

"Granger!" Someone yelled from above me, and my head jerked instinctively. There was Blaise, waving his arms at me. He was sitting in the very top row, almost exactly in the middle.

"Hi." I said, nervously, when I got to their seats.

"I'm glad you came. Drake was afraid you would back out." Blaise said, scooting over to make room for me beside him.

"This is Silas, by the way." He said, motioning to the guy on my other side. I had seen him around, but never knew his name. He was tall, almost as tall as Blaise, with almost black hair and bright blue eyes. And, just as Draco had promised, he didn't seem evil.

"So, I guess we are your body guards today, huh?" Blaise said, jokingly. I could tell he was trying to make me feel more comfortable, and even though it really wasn't working, I appreciated the effort. "I'm sorry for making you walk all the way up here; I just figured it was for the best."

I looked at him quizzically, what did he mean, for the best?

"You know… I didn't want your back to be to anyone." He explained and my mouth fell open in both surprise and understanding. "I don't think anyone would try to pull anything… not with me and Silas here, and especially not after Drake made the announcement this morning that anyone that bothered you would have Death Eaters to answer to….." He trailed off, probably because of the look on my face. My eyes were as wide as saucers and my jaw was hanging open.

Blaise grinned at me and Silas just chuckled.

" They can't really believe he would do that." I said, shaking my head.

"They believe him alright. Partially because they think he's just as horrible as you used to, and partially because I think he was serious." Blaise said, still grinning. "Anyway, I really don't think it will be a problem, but you know, just in case Pansy decides to spit gum in your hair or something, we thought you might feel more comfortable if your back wasn't to anyone."

I nodded and tried to swallow the lump in my throat. If walking in had been surreal… this was just plain bizarre. I never really thought Draco's friends would be mean to me, but I didn't expect them to be nice...thoughtful even. A little voice in my head reminded me that I wouldn't have thought Draco could be nice either. I shook the thoughts from my head and leaned slightly towards Silas so that I could see better.

The match passed uneventfully. My eyes stayed on Draco the entire time and, much to Blaise and Silas's enjoyment, I physically cringed every time anyone or anything came near him. But, in the end, he came out completely unscathed and perfectly happy after catching the snitch and winning it for Slytherin.

Afterwards, I went back to the dungeons with Blaise and Silas, after much protesting on my part. They assured me that I wasn't going to get in trouble, and that as long as I stayed with one of them I would be fine. So, I did just that. Until Draco came in from showering and getting dressed, I stayed practically attached to one of them constantly. More than once, Silas bumped into me while trying to turn around, and Blaise's girlfriend gave me more than my fair share of evil looks. I didn't care, I wasn't taking any chances.

I was sitting beside Silas on one of the plush green couches, so close that I was almost sitting on his hand when suddenly I couldn't see anymore. A knot formed in my stomach as two large hands covered my eyes. And then, as a pair of warm lips came down on the base of my neck, I smiled and allowed myself to relax.

"Guess who" Draco whispered in my ear, and no sooner were the words out of his mouth than I had jumped off the couch and thrown myself in his arms.

Silas stood up and shook his head as he called out to Blaise. "Can you believe this, man? Here I thought we were taking pretty good care of her."

Blaise laughed and walked over towards Draco.

"Really, Drake, I swear, no one even came near her." Blaise said, putting his hands in the air.

I narrowed my eyes at both of them as Draco took my hand and led me to the couch. I sat down beside him, but he pulled me into his lap and circled his arms around my waist.

"I have to say that I, personally, am relieved. When I came in and saw her all but sitting in Si's lap, I thought I was going to have a problem."

I felt the heat rise up in my cheeks as they all laughed, and I nudged Draco with my elbow.

"I'm afraid that's my fault, mate" Blaise said "I told her to stay near us until you got here, and you know Granger, she always does as she's told."

Before I could say anything in response, there was a knock at the door. We all looked at each other, wondering why someone was knocking. Anyone that would want to be in here knew the password, well, except for me. Briefly, I wondered if it was one of the professors looking for me, and quickly decided they wouldn't have any reason to. It wasn't as if anyone would have reported me missing.

Finally, someone opened the door from the inside and a house elf walked in, holding a folded piece of parchment in his hands, and made a direct path right to where we were sitting. Maybe I was wrong and someone was looking for me.

"Draco Malfoy" the house elf squeaked, looking up at us.

"Yes?" Draco asked, clearly looking confused.

"This owl came for you and we were given strict instructions to get it to you immediately. We are not to wait to breakfast, sir." The house elf explained, holding out the piece of parchment towards us.

Draco leaned forward and took it. He muttered thank you to the house elf, and looked around him before opening it. Everyone had gone back to their business after the knock at the door and no one was standing near us except for Silas and Blaise who were leaning against the wall talking. From what I could hear of the conversation, it sounded like Silas was trying to decide between which of two potential girls he should hit on and Blaise was giving his input.

I leaned my head down on Draco's shoulder and looked at him carefully. He looked nervous, probably thinking the same thing I was, that any news that couldn't wait until breakfast wasn't good news.

"Do you want me to go?" I asked, softly, but I made no effort to move.

"Absolutely not." He said, holding me tighter against him.

He slid his finger underneath the seal on the parchment, and opened it. For such a large piece of paper, it contained very few words.

The plan has been finalized. Tell the girl you will come for her over Christmas break. At that time, you will both be informed of what is expected of you. Hope you are well.

LM

Draco and I both looked at one another after we read the letter. He looked nervous, angry, and scared, but he also looked a little relieved.

"At least that gives us a little more time." He said, shrugging.

I bit my lip and nodded, trying to calculate the weeks in my head. Finals started on Thursday, which meant that school got out….. in less than two weeks.