Chapter 1: The sheep that fell in love with the Lion.

Hermione stared at the letter, the letter from Draco. She couldn't figure out why she couldn't open it. After all, it was just a letter.

How can this letter have such an effect on me? How could a letter mean so much to someone, someone like me and from a person like him?

But even though Hermione thought this, she knew. She knew it wasn't the letter that had the effect on her, but the man that wrote it. Draco, he had this effect on her. He was the reason why she was so scared to open the stupid letter. She stared at the letter for a few more moments before turning her back on it and looked at the ceiling instead. She grabbed a pillow and began to cuddle with it. As she cuddled with the pillow, she closed her eyes and began to think of Draco.

Hermione couldn't remember the last time she willingly thought about Draco. Most of the time he would creep into her thoughts and then just never leave them, no matter how hard she tried to get him out. This time she allowed it, she allowed herself to think about Draco, something she normally didn't do. It was not because he was unpleasant to think about, in fact he was the opposite. He was handsome, smart, suave, had a decent sense of humor, and was capable of making life interesting. Though he did have some traits that Hermione was not too fond of. He was sarcastic, mean, arrogant, rude, full of himself, and rarely, if ever, said what he really felt. Even though Draco had these flaws, Hermione still 'loved' him. She couldn't figure out why though. These flaws weren't tiny ones, they were big ones. They were ones that would make or break a relationship, mostly break it though. Though she hated these flaws he had, she still cared for him In fact, these flaws were the reason they had not spoken for the whole summer.

They both said things that were hurtful to one another. She said things that she did not mean, but she was hurt. He hurt her feelings, which is not a reason to say hurtful things back, but at the time it felt like the right thing to do. He hurt her in the worst way imaginable, to her, and he acted like it didn't mean a thing to him. As if their entire friendship, meant nothing to him. Beginning to become depressed again, Hermione thought about all the good and fun times they had had. Suddenly several memories came flooding back into her mind that made her blush. She'd forgotten, or rather made herself not think about those memories, because no good would nor ever could come from remembering them. She tried to push them out of her thoughts, and forget them again, but the more she tried to forget about them, the stronger it became.

It was summer, and somehow Hermione had convinced Draco to see a "muggle movie" in the theater with her. Hermione figured he had only said yes so that he could say that he did it, that or have proof to back up his statement that "all muggle things were stupid or unnecessary" Whatever the reason, he said yes, and that alone made Hermione happy.

She, at the time, didn't know why either. Draco was just a friend, a boy, but a friend none the less. She didn't know why she was so happy, or nervous. She had been so nervous she'd been fussing all day long, trying on every article of clothing she owned, to find that perfect outfit. She wanted to look good, and she wasn't quite sure why. So when the day finally came she was so nervous she felt that she had a million butterflies in her stomach.

He's just a friend, right? So then why am I so nervous?

Hermione got to the place they had agreed to meet twenty minutes early. She was so nervous that she wanted to just sit down at the restaurant and clear her mind before Draco showed up, but right as she turned the corner down onto the street where the restaurant was located, there he was. He looked more handsome than usual, which was weird for Hermione because she could not, for the life of her, remember when she decided that Draco was handsome. She wondered if she always had thought that, just didn't notice it until today. She stared at Draco who had looked up and noticed her. He had given her his classic sarcastic smirk of a smile, that looked like it had a hint of something else. Hermione was not sure but it looked a lot like desire, like he was impressed b the way she looked. Draco pushed his body off of the wall he was carelessly leaning on, shoved his hands in his pockets and sauntered towards her.

He looks amazing. Wait, why am I thinking that? It's Draco! We are just friends! Nothing else!

He stopped in front of her and gave her a smile, the smile she had gotten used to, the smile she had fallen for. The smile that seemed like it was meant for her, and only her.

"Well, afternoon Ms. Granger. I must say you are looking lovely today."

He said it so sweetly and yet with so much sarcasm it seemed like he was mocking her.

How can he do that and so easily?

Hermione was amazed, amazed that he could say such nice and beautiful things with such sarcasm and rudeness. She smiled anyways, it was still a compliment and she muttered:

"Thanks, you don't look so bad yourself, Malfoy."

"I know."

He smirked at her, he loved being complimented, and was never shy to show that he was smug about it. Hermione smirked and with loads of sarcasm said:

"And so modest!"

Even though he was indeed Draco Malfoy, there were times where Hermione forgot he was. There were times where she would forget that he was The Slytherin Prince and that she was Harry Potter's best friend. There were many times that she would see Draco, not as the Slytherin Prince, but as a man, a normal, sarcastic, egocentric, self-centered, selfish, spoiled, and a compellingly handsome man and she, a normal girl. Hermione found it easier to be friends with him if she thought of him that way. If there were not any labels, it made things a lot easier. It made it easier to forget that everybody at Hogwarts feared, loved, and hated him, and that Hermione's best friends were his enemies.

Hermione wished that things were different. That she could talk to Draco whenever and wherever she desired, without worrying about people and what they would say or thought, but things were not like that. Instead Hermione had to hide her relationship with Draco to, everyone, she had to hid the letters, the gifts, even her emotions, everything had to be hidden. She went as far as only meeting Draco in places she knew none of her friends would think of going, out of fear of them finding out. Draco was different though. Where Hermione worried about what people though, he didn't. He could care less about what people thought of him, as long as they didn't bother him, he didn't care. Besides he was:

"… rich, popular, smart, and handsome. What more could I possibly need?"

Even though Draco was a spoiled little rich boy, was rude, annoying and mean, etc., there was something intriguing about him. He was different around her, and only her it seemed. He seemed, nicer, sweeter, when he was around her, but the thing that was always surprising to her was their friendship as a whole. Why were they even friends to begin with? They had a lot in common, they had a lot of the same interests yes, but they were two completely different people with completely different views on most everything, so why were they friends? Hermione knew why she was friends with him, he was intriguing, and very drawing, and there was just something else that made her want to be near him. She didn't exactly know why but she wanted, and needed to be by Draco's side, but not sure why she felt that. She never really thought about it, not until after all that had happened during and after the summer's events. Before all of this happened she was content with his answer:

"We just are, deal with it."

She figured, now, that it was just his way of saying that they had a connection, that their lives were meant to cross paths, and that there was no stopping it, so why question it?

Hermione and Draco decided that since they were so early that they would just eat first rather than go after the movie, like they had planned. Draco bought, of course, he refused to let her pay for anything, because:

"It's the man's job to treat a woman like a princess. And I refuse to let a girl pay for anything when she is in my presence…"

Or something to that effect. After they ate they went to the theater. It was still too early so they sat in the theater, alone. They spoke about everything and nothing. About classes the coming semester, about certain people in their groups, their friends, or otherwise. They joked about certain things, they also had made some sort of a bet about the movie. Draco said

"It is going to be dumb, like most all Muggle things."

"You never know, You might enjoy it."

Was all she could come back with. After what seemed like ages the movie finally started. Not even ten minutes into the movie, they were already making fun of it.

"This is awful! Why did you take me to this?"

"Cause I thought it would be good, besides Harry nor Ron would go with me."

"I can see why not."

Her excuse was a lie though, she never asked Harry or Ron to go because whether they wanted to go or not, she wouldn't have asked. For there was only one person that she wanted to go see this movie with, and he was sitting right next to her. She turned and stared at Draco. Thinking to herself, about what and why she was feeling what she was feeling. She could not figure out why Draco was so important to her that she would feel this way. What was bugging her most was that she wasn't sure what she was feeling anyway. She always told herself it was her just really caring for her relationship with Draco. That she just cherished their friendship, but this felt different, it felt much stronger than just a friendship. It was something stronger than she'd ever had with Ron or Harry. It felt way to different to be a "just friends" kind of feeling. She wished she had known then what she'd know now, it would have made things easier. While she was in deep thought, and spacing off in Draco's direction. She hadn't noticed she was doing so until she felt something touch her hand, which snapped her back into reality she noticed Draco was staring at her.

"You okay?"

He looked at her, hard, trying to figure out what she was thinking about.

"Mmm, I'm fine. Just spaced out a little. Lack of sleep will do that to you."

She laughed and smiled at him. He looked at her without an expression for what seemed like a long time, then smiled. He turned back to look at the movie, and so did Hermione. They watched the movie for a few more minutes until Hermione noticed something. Draco hadn't removed his hand from hers. She sat there, not sure what to think. She was confused by her feelings, she was both confused and, happy. Why was she happy? And it wasn't just happy she was extremely happy, excited, she had butterflies in her stomach. She wasn't sure what to make of all of this so she just decided to go with her instinct which was telling her to grab and hold his hand back. So she did.

For a split second she could feel Draco's whole body tense up and then quickly relax. She looked at him to give him a reassuring smile, but quickly noticed he did not need one, for he was looking at her, and smiling. He was smiling her smile, the smile meant for her. The smile meant for Hermione, and Hermione Granger alone. Hermione opened her mouth to say something but as she began to speak she was quickly shut up by Draco's lips. He kissed her. Draco kissed Hermione, and she was kissing him back. It was a very soft kiss that got more and more intense the longer they held it. Neither of them remembered much of the movie, they were so preoccupied with each other. They held hands kissed and cuddled throughout the whole movie, and to Hermione's surprise, she didn't regret it one bit.

After the movie, Draco walked Hermione home. They laughed about how awful the movie was but that they still had fun anyways. Once at Hermione's front door, Hermione turned to look at Draco. She smiled and thanked him for going with her and that she had a lot of fun. He smiled back and said:

"I know."

He then leaned forward and kissed her forehead, pulled away, gave her a smug look and then said:

"Me too. Good night Granger, sweet dreams."

He then turned and walked away. Hermione stood there for the longest time, dumbfounded and blushing. She was so happy she didn't know what to do.

What the-? What is this feeling? Do I like Draco? Of course I do! He's my friend, but, do I want to date him?

It took Hermione the rest of the summer to come up with an answer to that, and the answer was:

Yes.

Hermione opened her eyes, she had hoped that when she opened them that she'd be somewhere else, or that Draco was in her room, making fun of how plain it was and of her library of books, but neither came true. She was still in her plain room and she was alone. She turned over and looked at the letter, staring back at her, as if taunting her, just begging to be opened. She closed her eyes and began to think of everything that happened after that first date. And began to cry.