A/N- Over one hundred reviews, thank you all for reading and reviewing this!

Disclaimer: Is it that necessary for me to keep doing this? I do not own Harry Potter.

Priorities

By the time lunch rolled around, students were cramming into the Great Hall to eat. Draco leisurely waited behind, for the crowd to thin so he could make his way into the hall without getting stampeded on. He causally looked around the swarm of students, hoping to catch a glimpse of curly brown hair. Thunder rumbled outside and some of the younger students screamed, Draco rolled his eyes in annoyance hoping he didn't sound that git-headed when he was their age. "Ron," he heard an all too familiar voice not too far off from him say. He peeked over at Harry as he came up to Ron. Draco strained his ears to hear. "Have you seen Hermione?"

"No, why?" Ron asked, turning towards his best friend.

"She wasn't in last period and I didn't know if maybe she got sick or something..." Harry said. Draco frowned. Anybody who knew Hermione Granger would have taken it as a joke if someone were to say that. Hermione never missed a class or was late for one unless something was seriously wrong.

"I wouldn't know," Ron told him. "I only had that class with her this morning with you." Harry scratched his head, a worry look spreading across his face. Draco turned away from them and scanned the crowd once more. When he finally came to terms that he wasn't going to find her there, he handed Crabbe his satchel and mumbled a, "Be right back," before taking off down the halls.

Draco hoped he would get lucky and run into her, since he seemed to be doing that a lot, or find her in some corridor somewhere. But no matter where he looked for her, there was no sign of her. He began to get worried, cursed himself for caring about her after what she had done to him, but kept up the looking. Finally heading to a nearby window to watch the storm unfold and think of a spot she might be at a figure caught his eyes outside. He squinted through the window but couldn't make out the person with the smudged raindrops on the window. Draco bounded for the doors, having a gut feeling, paused before deciding if he really wanted to go out in the rain, and stopped dead in his tracks. Books lay in an array on the ground in front of him and he looked back up at the person who sat on the ground, wet, shivering, and clearly crying. He knew it was her.

Draco braced himself for whatever was to come next and headed out into the storm. "Hermione?" He called out to the person. When they didn't answer he wondered if he regretted doing this. Finally giving in to the curiosity, he circled the person until he was in front of them. "Hey!" He called down to what he hoped to be her. The person had their hands buried in their face and only shifted a bit from the call. Draco bent down and grabbed at the person's wrist, moving it out of the way so he could see the girl's face. And as he expected it to be, it was Hermione. And she looked horrible. Her hair was plastered to her face. Every bit of her was soaked. Her eyes were a fierce red, her cheeks were bright pink, her lips puffy, and her hand was stained with a little blood, she looked as if she might die right there from the coldness. "Are you crazy?" He yelled over a thunderous boom. "Are you trying to get sick?" Was she utterly this stupid? Who in their bloody right mind would come out here in a storm? Had she really been out here since their first class? Frustrated with her, he began to pull her up but she wrenched her wrist away from him and backed up on the ground.

"Don't touch me!" She cried her voice hoarse. "You did all of this!" Her voice broke at least three times in that one statement.

"Me?" He yelled at her. "Are you bloody stupid?" He really didn't want to argue in the rain, but he wasn't going to leave her out there and she clearly wasn't going to follow him in anytime soon.

"I hate you!" She tried to yell with her weak voice. Draco stopped himself before he said anything nasty. This is what she needed to do. Take her anger out on him.

"Yeah, yeah, okay can we please go inside now?" He insisted, beginning to shiver.

"I'm not going anywhere with you, ever!" She shakily stood up from the ground, stumbling back once, Draco reached out to steady her but she swatted his arm away and crossed her arms.

"Hermione, come on-" he reached out again to grab her but she stepped back.

"I'm a mess because of you!" Draco frowned at her. "Why did you say that!" She demanded. "Why did you say you have feelings for me when you don't?" A new batch of tears sprang from her eyes.

"Hermione," Draco shook his head. He wasn't dumb, and he knew what lust felt like. Every word of hers sank into him from last night.

"It should have never happened. God, what was I thinking? This whole thing is so messed up! You and me- together, it's so wrong. More than wrong. And you don't have feelings for me, Draco. It's just lust, there's a difference."

"I'm sorry, I was in a weak moment."

"It should all just be forgotten."

"Goodbye Draco."

"Because I do have strong feelings for you," Draco insisted, freezing now and completely drenched.

"No, that's a lie!" She cried.

"Dammit Hermione!" He yelled back at her. She sobbed back in response to him, unsteadily took a step back, before her legs collapsed and dropped from underneath her. Draco was there within seconds, grabbing and wrapping his arms around her before she hit the ground. She refused a bit and fought back, but finally gave in when she came to terms she had no strength left in her. She buried her face in his wet shirt and she felt his body shift against hers as he bent down and picked her up, carrying her bridal style back into Hogwarts. He grabbed at her books and placed them in her lap as she kept her face hidden against him.

He quickly went to the Prefects bathroom before anybody could see them, stated the password and went in. He placed her down against a wall and turned on the colorful array of waters that spilled into the oversize bathtub. He walked over to her and bent down. "Hermione," He said softly. She moaned her eyes still closed. "We need to get you into the hot bath water." He informed her. She opened her eyes slowly, as if just noticing where they were. Draco carefully reached for her robe and when she didn't object or really even move he began to undress her. They pretty much kept eye contact through the whole undressing, and when he was finally done, he picked up her naked body into his arms again, walked them over to the bath and placed her in.

She let out a shaky breath as the warm water engulfed her body. She closed her eyes and slid down into the water. After at least thirty seconds, Draco became antsy and bent down and pulled her back up. She spit out the water in her mouth and coughed. "Are you bloody trying to kill yourself today?" He demanded.

"Trying," She joked, her voice croaking. Draco undressed from behind her and slipped in next to her. She was careful not to look at him until he was full covered by the bubbles. "What are you doing?" She whispered. Draco watched as she still trembled and he reached out to feel her forehead. "Just go," She tried with him. Draco shushed her and put an arm around her. She watched him closely as he put a hand under her legs and lifted her up and onto is lap. "What are you doing?" She demanded, squirming under him.

"Hermione, just stay still," he gently pushed her head down onto his chest and held her there. Hermione closed her eyes and listened to his breathing. This was the first time she ever felt so close to him, in his arms. She'd never had gotten to experience this with him until now. And it felt so right to be safely in his arms.

"I love you," She said, before she could catch herself. She bit her bottom lip, cursed herself, and felt his breathing hold for a beat or two.

"It's just lust," He told her. She wanted to shake her head against his chest, but her head pounded too bad to even move or think. She let herself drift asleep in his arms just like the way she thought it should be.

When Hermione finally awoke, she was utterly confused of her surroundings. Out of fear she shot up and disturbed the person holding her. Hermione looked around, her thoughts coming back to her. She was in the Prefects bathroom where Draco had brought her. How long had they been in there? From the looks of it awhile as there were no trace of bubbles in the bath anymore and the water was cold. She looked down at her naked body on top of Draco's and she scrambled out from on top of him. He woke up from the sudden weight shift off of him and blinked hard, Hermione could tell he was also a bit confused. He looked over at Hermione who frantically jumped out of the bath and grabbed a towel from off of the shelve and wrapped it around her. She sheepishly looked down on the ground, biting her lip and careful to choose her next words. "Were only making things more complicated." She met his gaze.

"You're the one I found out in the pouring rain," He informed her and stood up. She quickly turned around so she wasn't looking at his naked body. She felt him come towards her and grab a towel for himself. After he finished wrapping it around his waist she turned to him.

"I know, and I'm sorry for that."

"Stop saying sorry," He said, annoyed of that word.

"Everything was just a onetime fling and it should just stay that way." Draco rolled his eyes.

"You need to stop singing the same tune, love." Draco pulled her to him and she froze in his arms, not sure of what he would do next, they stared at each other. "You want more than a fling, don't lie. Forgotten what you said to me last?"

Shit. She had forgotten. She swallowed hard, her throat killing her as her head began to pound again. "I-I was-" Draco cut her off,

"In a weak moment?" He smirked, making Hermione break the gaze and look away, embarrassed. "You've been having a lot of those lately." He released his grip on her. They stood there for a moment, neither one of them moving nor speaking. Hermione kept her gaze on the tiles as Draco stared at her.

"Then... what now?" Hermione said quietly. Draco shook his head,

"I don't know," He admitted. "And I haven't forgotten what I said." Hermione finally looked back at him. "I do have feelings for you, and I know the difference. I fell hard for you, Hermione Granger. I'll yell it to the school to make it official for you." Hermione drew in a shaky breath. Here it was… "I love you." Hermione breathed slowly, letting everything sink in. Did he really love her enough to tell everyone? She did not think she was ready for that. Hermione's eyes wandered over to their clothes in a pile and she shut her eyes and when she reopened them she met his gaze.

"We should really get back to class; I can't even believe I missed most of this morning." It was so unlike her. And that's what scared her. Ever since she's been with Draco she was doing things she thought she would never do, even small ones like missing class, except that wasn't small to her. It was important to be present there and right now she needed to focus on other things then Draco right now. This year wasn't about her relationships, her top priority was school.

"Fine," Draco reluctantly said. "But you're not getting away from me this time. We are having a talk later tonight." He began to collect his articles of clothing. When he grabbed the last piece off of the floor, he turned to face her. "Meet me in the Astronomy Tower, after dinner." He instructed her. Hermione looked away from him as he put on his clothes, waiting for him to leave before she did the same. Once he was dressed he walked over to her. "I'll be seeing you," He leaned down, being a pretty good few inches taller than her, and pecked her lips very gently as if they make break.

"Okay," She said through her hoarse voice. He gave her a small smile, pulled a strand of hair away from her face and turned around to leave, letting her get dressed alone.

"You know we can't keep doing this." Ron told Harry as they rushed into their room.

"I know Ron, but this is different!" He turned around to face his best friend. "Since when do you know Hermione to miss the whole day of school?" Ron considered this.

"Well what are we waiting for?" Harry nodded at his friend, went over to his drawer, opened it and reached under all of his junk to grab the map.

"This should show us where she is," He took out his wand and pointed it once again at the map, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." They watched the map as it began to write itself. Once it was done, Harry opened it and his eyes went wide.

"Well what is it?" Ron put a hand on Harry's shoulder so he could see over it.

"What?" Was all Harry could manage to say.

"Let me see," Ron stole the map from Harry's hand and looked over it. "Malfoy and Hermione?" He shook his head. "What are they doing in the Prefects bathroom together?" He looked over at Harry. "Something is going on."

"Obviously," Harry stole the map back. "Wait,"

"What?"

"Look, Malfoy is leaving." Harry showed Ron the map.

"Where is he going?" Harry squinted at the map.

"I don't know but has he been with her this whole time?" Harry faced Ron, tossing the map on his bed.

"No, Malfoy was in my second period class." Harry took of his glasses and rubbed his eyes. Putting them back on, he sighed in frustration. "Should we confront her?"

"And say what? We've been checking up on you and saw you with Malfoy?"

"The first time you just stumbled on them! That was not your fault."

"Listen, you and Hermione's friendship is a bit well rocky right now. You saying this to her will only make it worse." Ron sighed.

"I just want to know what's going on between them."

"Me too," Harry sat on his bed and looked up at Ron. "Maybe Malfoy had made some kind of deal with her and something did not go right?" Ron considered this and leaned against the post of Harry's bed.

"Maybe," Ron's eyes flickered over to the map. "You know… we can always corner Malfoy and make him tell us."

"Yeah," he scoffed and reached for the map, "and if he tells Hermione that we know something is up?"

"Well then I don't know!" Ron threw up his hands. "Are you suggesting we just need to wait longer?"

"No, I'm suggesting we need to talk to somebody else." Harry cocked an eyebrow at Ron.

"I have no idea who you're talking about."

"Let's talk to Ginny and tell her everything. And maybe she can then talk to Hermione and get her to admit something."

"Something?"

"Whatever is going on between them! The business deal or maybe Malfoy threatened her to do something."

"Alright," Ron nodded his head in agreement, "when should we talk to her?"

"Not today, because we don't want Hermione to think we know anything so that would be suspicious if Ginny said something right now. Let's wait a day or two."

"I don't know how long I can go without knowing." Ron admitted.

"Me too," Harry pointed his wand at the map, "Mischief Managed."

When Hermione had realized that she was in the Prefect's bathroom with Draco a little longer than she thought, and found out she missed the rest of the day at school, she went to the infirmary and told Madame Pomfrey she had been in her room sick all day. The way Hermione looked and sounded, Madame Pomfrey bought it and said she would write a note for Hermione excusing her from her classes that she had missed that day. She also made Hermione take something for her hoarse throat and made her lay in one of the beds during dinner.

She told Madame Pomfrey she would be more comfortable in her own bed once she was to meet Draco in ten minutes. She let her go and Hermione went into the bathroom to fix herself up. Once she was satisfied, with as much as she could do, she headed to the Astronomy Tower.

Feeling nervous, she took her time to get there. She wanted Draco to be waiting for her instead of the other way around. Hermione stopped in the hall and peered out the window. The storm had passed and the clouds were breaking so she could see the stars. She smiled, it was a nice night and hopefully it would stay that way.

She began to walk again, what did Draco want to talk to her about? What would happen after this? What would happen tomorrow? Butterflies began to flutter in her stomach and she put a hand to it, breathing slowly. She needed to calm down before she went to see him. Get her priorities straight, she did not want him to tell her what would happen after this, she wanted to make up her own decision.

Hermione thought about when she told Draco she loved him, in all honestly she did not know if she really meant it. She was caught up in the moment and… Hermione sighed and brushed her hair off of her forehead. She really did need to get her priorities straight.

Once she finally gave in and thought that she gave Draco enough time to get there first, she headed up to the Astronomy Tower. When she got to the stairs, she went up them quietly. She did not want to sneak up on him but she was also scared for him to hear her.

Hermione quieted her breath and stopped on the last step when she saw him. His back was facing her, and he was looking out at the view. The moonlight was hitting him, making him glow and she smiled. "Draco?" She finally said, accepting she could not stare at him for any longer without it being creepy. He turned around, but he did not smile. "Hey," she took the last step up and took two steps towards him. Hermione frowned, "What's wrong?"

"I have to tell you something." He said. Hermione could feel her heart beating faster; she pressed her thumb into the palm of her hand.

"Okay,"

"The night I saw you in the Great Hall, I came up with this idea." Hermione watched him carefully. "To um," He closed his eyes and shook his head, "to mess with you." He looked back at her.

"What do you mean?"

"To make you think that well… I liked you. I wanted to drive you crazy. And then the night you kissed me, everything changed." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't know where I was exactly going with my plan when you started messing with me back, challenging me to be exact." She squinted at him in the darkness.

"So you didn't like me?"

"Then," he took a step closer to her. "That was then, not now." Hermione looked down at his feet and then met his eyes in the dark.

"Let's just call it even." She told him.

"Really?"

"Really," She smiled.

"Okay fine," He smirked at her.

"What now?"

"I want to be with you," Draco admitted.

"It's going to be complicated, Draco."

"I know that," He walked over to her and put his hands on her arms. "But I'm willing to go through it all."

"Are you sure?" She frowned.

"Yes,"

"Then… me too." She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. They pulled their faces back and Draco smiled down at his girl.

A/N- Thank you again for reading and reviewing, and keep doing it!

Brittany