A/n: I am really happy that people have started reviewing. I noticed that most of the comments on the last chapter were by guests, I love it that they have taken the time to review; you have no idea how a writer feels when she reads the feedback.

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Chapter 12

Blaise chuckled," I would love to smack someone hard."

Before Luna or Hermione could say anything, there was a pop and all three turned to see an angry looking Draco with one black eye.

Blaise looked at his best friend and said," I guess someone already got smacked hard."

Hermione jumped from the couch and rushed towards Draco and started examining his eye. She looked at his silver eyes and touched the skin under it which was turning purple; Draco winced so she retracted her hand and asked," What happened to you?"

Draco hesitated but replied," I ran into your ex- boyfriend and I don't think he was too pleased to meet me."

Hermione looked at Draco's face in horror and whispered," Ron did this to you."

Blaise stormed towards the door, all the way cursing the red head," I will kill that bastard; he wouldn't know what hit him."

Luna tried to calm him down and said," You can't just barge in his house and beat him up; he's an auror for god sakes."

Draco turned to his best friend and said," Luna is right, I love the thought of you beating the shit out of Weasley but I don't want you to go to Azkaban for that piece of scum."

"But we can't let this pass; this is outrageous. It doesn't matter if he's an auror, he is going to pay for this", Blaise fumed.

Draco sighed in exasperation," It's not the right time for all this; just let it go for now."

Blaise agreed with a huff while Luna rubbed his arm comfortingly and Draco kept an eye on him so that he wouldn't do anything rash, none of them noticed that Hermione had gone still as a board; her hands were fisted on her sides, her eyes were filled with rage and she was literally shaking in fury. Her magic exploded a vase on the table which got everyone's attention.

Draco took a cautious step towards her and said," Calm down Hermione, it's not that big a deal; I am fine."

Hermione screeched, "How dare he do this to you! Nobody messes with my friends. He needs to learn a lesson and I am going to teach it to him." with that she stormed to the door and was about to apparated and probably castrate Ron when Draco ran up and caught her around the waist. She fought against his hold in all her fury but he was too strong for her. She stopped fighting his hold and leaned on his chest for comfort; Draco wrapped his arms around her and tried to soothe her.

From the other corner of the room Luna and Blaise gazed at the display their friends were putting up. Blaise whispered in Luna's ear," when did they become such good friend or from the looks of it, more than friends? It has been less than a week."

Luna murmured," The relationship of hurt and comfort does miraculous things to people. When Hermione was hurt and needed help, Draco helped her get through it and that creates a very special bond; friendship."

Draco and Hermione stayed wrapped up till Hermione had calmed down. They moved away and Draco teased her," Well here's the Hermione granger I remember. I would love to see you beat the snitch out of Weasley but not for me. I can take care of myself; if that Skeeter woman hadn't interrupted I would have landed a punch or two on Weasley."

"Reeta skeeter? What was she doing there?" Luna asked.

"She saw the whole thing and started asking all sorts of rubbish questions about us competing for the affection of the golden girl and all. Worst of all, now she thinks that I won Hermione's affection as she saw me carrying her mail."Draco replied.

"If I know anything about the skeeter women then you better watch out for tomorrow's newspaper; you both will be the front news", Blaise mused.

Hermione dropped on the couch with an exasperated huff and wailed," This is a nightmare. Of all the people to witness the incident, it had to be Reeta Skeeter. She hates my guts for what I did to her in fourth grade and now she has an opportunity to get back at me. And all my friends and family don't even know about the break up; I can't believe they will find it like this. I was going to go back to work tomorrow, how am I supposed to do that now."

Luna sat on Hermione's side and said," You have nothing to worry about; everyone knows that the Daily Prophet prints rubbish; they won't believe a word of it. You have to go back to work and face everyone, you can't run from them for the rest of your life; these people adore you, they will understand."

Blaise chuckled," It would be funny to see the expression on Potter's face if he read about a possible relationship between you and Draco. I mean he was fine with Draco working for the order but he wouldn't be too keen on you two being together."

Draco elbowed his friend in the ribs while Hermione said in horror," Oh my God! I didn't even think about it, you are right, Harry won't be happy if he saw the newspaper. But he is unreachable, I bet he didn't even get my letter so how will he get the Prophet."

Luna gave Blaise a glare and replied calmly," He won't get the prophet, you will tell him yourself. Harry has better sense than to believe anything that Reeta Skeeter says."

Blaise changed the topic with a quick," What did you do to Skeeter in Fourth year?"

Luna laughed while Hermione blushed and said," It was nothing."

This increased Draco's curiosity and he said," Please tell us Hermione; looking at the color of your cheeks I can guess it was pretty interesting."

Hermione flushed a crimson red while Luna chuckled and said," Remember in fourth year Skeeter wrote articles about Harry and Hermione's secret love, then she made a love triangle out of it with Viktor Krum; she had been spying on them in her unregistered animagus form which was a Beetle. Well Hermione found out and caught her in a jar and kept her trapped for weeks; from then on Skeeter hates Hermione."

Blaise laughed," Well done Granger, that was very Slytherin of you; I am very proud of you for pulling it off."

"I am not sure it's a complement Blaise and she had it coming", Hermione replied.

Luna said wistfully," She will never change and I am dreading the article that she will surely print. But we'll handle tomorrow when it comes. We need to head back now; I have to go to the club and Blaise needs to visit his mother."

Blaise wailed," I don't want to visit my mother and meet her latest boyfriend; she changes them like clothes."

Draco nodded," I understand mate, I totally understand."

Both the girls laughed at the boy's discomfort with their mother's dating life and various conquests. Blaise and Luna apparated away leaving Draco and Hermione on their own.

Hermione looked at Draco's black eye, ran to the kitchen and came back with a muddy potion and an ice compressor which she handed to Draco. He pressed it to his eye and winced.

Hermione said," the ice compressor will reduce the swelling then I can apply this potion which will take off the color.

After the swelling had reduced, Hermione applied the potion on Draco's eye while he tried not to wince. He had been stunned by Hermione's response to Ron Weasley's violence. She had said that no one messed with her friends which meant that she really considered him a friend. Draco didn't have any friends except Blaise and it was refreshing to see Hermione get protective for him; he liked it.

Hermione was shocked by the red hot fury she had felt at Ron, it was confusing as Draco had recently become her friend and she hadn't realized they had grown so close. If she really thought about it she realized that Draco had become an important part of her life. He had helped her at her lowest, made her see the value of her life and had brought back her will to live. He had been welcoming, friendly and helpful and now she had become attached to him.

Hermione chanted in her mind.' He is just a friend, nothing more. My reaction was reasonable under the present circumstances and it's not because I have started liking him.' The last thought made her panic but she decided to shove it in a corner of her mind and said," This is my last day off from work, do you want to watch a movie or something."

Draco looked at the time and it was still time for dinner so he agreed. Hermione brought out her favorite movies and asked," Which one do you want to watch, sorry I don't have any manly movies."

Draco looked through the CD's of She's the man, letters to Juliet, the leap year, 50 first dates, a walk to remember and grownups. " I want to watch this one" Draco said while waving the CD of Grown ups.

For the next two hours they enjoyed the movie, laughing like old friends and making fun of the characters. They stayed in comfortable silence after the credits started rolling, both in their own thoughts.

Hermione said," I have never regretted a thing in my life; we had to fight to survive all through school but I always thought that it was for a greater good. My parents died but I realized that I had done my best to protect them, but this thing that happened with Ron is the only thing that I regret, this whole thing was my fault, how could I be so stupid to trust him blindly."

Draco thought for a moment then replied," Whatever happened was unfortunate but you shouldn't regret it. Everything that happens teaches you something, if you hadn't been through all that you would have missed out on an important lesson. I know that it was painful but maybe something good was supposed to happen because of it."

Hermione smiled," Like our friendship; it is new but that doesn't mean that it's not valuable. I can't thank you enough for all that you have done for me, I wouldn't even be alive if it wasn't for you."

Draco smiled back," It's good to know that I have a friend besides Blaise and you don't need to thank me again and again, I did what anyone would have done."

They prepared dinner and chatted through dinner. They shared the foolish things they had done and their most embarrassing moments.

Draco had chuckled and said," I went on a date with a girl from work in Paris; while we were there we ran into her family so we had to invite them on our table. Through dinner I felt someone rubbing their foot on my leg and I thought it was my date; I became somewhat aroused because she was hot but then she and her mother left the table to use the washroom but there is still a foot on my leg. Then her father gets up to get a drink and I am left with a foot on my leg and my date's brother. He leans over me and whispers in what I assume he thought was a seductive voice,' What about we take this to my room'. I think I have never run faster than I did at that moment. I got aroused by a guy playing footsie with me, it was the most embarrassing thing to ever happen to me. Your turn now."

Hermione laughed at Draco's expression but then said," I used to spend a lot of time in muggle London especially a café near my house. Once while I was there I needed to use the washroom, it looked dirty so I put layers of toilet papers on the seat and did the deed. I came out and was about to head out of the café when everyone started laughing. I looked back to see a train of toilet paper running down my skirt to the toilet. I ran away and never went back because I was just so embarrassed."

They talked about other casual things through dinner then cleaned up and retired to their rooms.

Before going to bed Draco said," Tomorrow is going to be a tough day; get all the rest you can because tomorrow might change everything."

The next morning Hermione got up, did her yoga routine, showered and then checked on 'Prestel', Draco's owl. The owl was sleeping contently but there was a folded copy of the daily Prophet on the table.

Hermione took a deep breath and opened the newspaper to see the headline screaming at her; "The golden girl develops a taste for bad boys, her new conquest; Draco Malfoy"

I am not very happy with this chapter but I have been sick and couldn't come up with anything better. Bear with me people…

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Love

Ash