Author's Note: Happy 31st, Harry Potter! :D Unfortunately, Harry doesn't really make an appearance in this chapter… but still, it's the thought that counts. Read and review! :)

Chapter 44

Do you want me to have feelings for you?

The question echoes in my head. God… if I was being completely, absolutely honest with myself, the answer would be yes. I can't lie to myself.

Oh god, what does this mean for us? We can't be together. It's just… not possible.

No, no, attention. Pay attention.

Madam Pomfrey is speaking very quickly and stubbornly about something. What? Right, she doesn't want me to take Ginny away. Yes, I know Ginny is weak.

"Malfoy is wealthy, so he has plenty of supplies," I say, interrupting her. "I'll be able to take care of her from his place."

"Nonsense. With an internal injury like that, Side-Along Apparition could be fatal, if you splinch her."

"I won't splinch her," I say.

"Madam Pomfrey," Blaise says, "it's going to be fine. Hermione's really solid at Apparition. And you're going to need as much room as you can get in this house, so having one less person is a good thing. McGonagall would understand."

The nurse looks at us, frowning, but nods her head. "Very well, then."

She bustles away to get back to work. I see Charlie and Mrs. Weasley standing several cots away, looking at Fred. I assume the guys explained where they're going, and where I'll be taking Ginny.

"You sure you don't want me to take her? I could take her to meet Draco," Blaise says to me.

"I'll be fine. We already worked it out. Just show up at his cottage, and he'll know to come meet me," I say. "Go on."

He smiles. "Take care of yourself, Hermione. See you in a few minutes."

"Bye, Blaise."

He Disapparates.

I take another look around the now-crowded room. Many familiar faces have arrived, but most of them are too busy trying to take care of wounded friends or family to take notice of my appearance. I'm sure that if Harry showed up, they'd be all over him, though. It probably was a good thing that I came instead, then. I doubt Harry would have been able to make it out of here.

I grip Ginny's arm tightly and Disapparate, focusing on my destination.

A moment later, my feet hit solid ground, and Ginny lands by me. I levitate her body and move closer to the house. Then there's a pop behind me, and I whirl around, wand pointed at the source of the sound.

Thank god, it's Draco.

My mouth opens, but suddenly, I'm speechless again. He has this look in his eye, one that's very unfamiliar to me. He looks as though he wants to devour me. I instinctively back up a step, and he takes a step forward, as if he's stalking his prey.

Then he smirks, and I'm almost willing to believe that I imagined what just passed between us.

"You brought her," he says, stepping over and reaching down to grab her hand.

I nod. "Draco, before we go back… we really should talk about what just happened."

He grimaces. "I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Why not?" I try imitating his trademark smirk. "Are you afraid this time, Draco?" I ask, reminding both of us of our bet. Feels like it was so long ago.

"Well, I'm not a Gryffindor lion. I don't have to be unafraid."

"So you admit that you're scared."

"Hey, just because I'm saying I'm allowed to be scared doesn't mean I am," he says.

"Then why won't you talk about it?"

He tries to stare me down, but I don't back off.

"We should probably go," he says.

"See, you're running away," I say. Why is he doing this?

"We shouldn't be talking here anyway," he says.

"You said you'd know if anyone tried to come here without your permission. Technically, we're safe here," I point out.

"You trust me that much?" he asks, raising his eyebrows.

"You've saved my life, multiple times. If I could choose to put my life in anyone's hands, I'd choose yours," I reply.

His lips form a faint smile, but it fades almost instantly.

"It's still not safe here," he says. "But fine, I'll give you the answer you're looking for, so that you can finally rest your mind. It's yes."

My heart skips a beat. But my mind yells for me to calm down, to make sure. I have to be sure.

I bite my lip. "Yes to what?"

He pauses, looking at me. I start to wonder whether or not he'll answer.

"Yes, I care about you," he finally says. "Yes, you're important to me. Yes, I worry about you when you're not with me. Yes, I've gotten over the fact that you're a Muggle-born. Is that answer thorough enough for you?"

I fight the smile that's beginning to form on my lips. I'd been horrified of this outcome before, but somehow, all of my fear has left me. I only feel this giddy happiness. I probably shouldn't feel so grateful for this response, because I'm quite sure it'll cause more problems for me. But I never realized just how much I wanted it to be true until he finally admitted it.

"You still in there?" he asks, cutting off my thoughts.

I nod. "Yes, I'm still here."

"Listen… I don't want you to reciprocate these feelings. At least, not yet."

I frown. "Why not?"

"Because it'd be too much like you were doing it out of gratitude."

I open my mouth to protest—who is he to determine what my motivations are? But he holds up a finger to hush me.

"We really should go now," he says. "I have work to do."

"In the middle of the night?" I ask.

"Yes. I'm already late."

"Sorry," I say.

He only shakes his head in response and gets a good grip on Ginny's arm.

A moment later, we're both standing in his living room. Draco walks into his bedroom, and I follow, levitating Ginny to take her inside with us. Draco conjures another bed, and I lower her on top of it gently.

"I'll have Naree supply you and the others with food, so you won't have to worry about that. Unless there's an emergency here, I'll probably be gone for a few days. I advise you not to go outside if you can help it. I don't like the thought of people coming and going as they please."

I nod. "I'll tell the others, then."

"They're staying in a new room, by the way," Draco says. "You'll see the new door when you go back into the living room—if you didn't see it already."

I hadn't noticed, but it isn't very important to me at the moment. "Thank you so much," I say.

He looks indifferent to my words, and I realize that he's hidden himself away again.

"I really should be going," he says.

He keeps saying that, but he hasn't actually left. Is he staying on my behalf? That possibility brings me a strange sort of satisfaction. God, this is going way too fast. I should get my head on straight before I decide on my feelings for him.

But I want to draw out his emotions. I want to break down his walls and force him to show me his feelings for me—now that I know they're there, I selfishly want proof that he cares. I guess this is the girly side of me, craving attention from the boy who's admitted that he likes me.

I step over to him, and he doesn't move away. I lift my hand and gently cup his cheek. He flinches at my touch, and I smile.

"When someone thanks you, you're supposed to say, 'you're welcome'," I say.

His lips twitch with amusement. "You are welcome. They aren't."

"They are my friends."

"And that's why they're here."

"Really, Draco. Thank you," I say softly.

Then I lean up and plant a chaste kiss on his lips.

For a fleeting moment, when our lips are connected, I sense a raging beast inside him that's barely being contained. I back down to my normal height and observe that he's rigid and that his eyes have darkened into deep pools of molten silver.

Some daredevil part of me wants to reach inside him and unleash that beast, just to see what will happen. Draco always has such tight command over his emotions, his words and actions, his world. I want to see him spiraling wildly out of control. I want to see him, without all of his restraint.

But the moment passes very quickly, and he gives me a small smile.

"You're welcome, Hermione."

Warmth floods my chest as I hear him address me by my first name for the first time, and I suddenly wish that he'd always called me Hermione.

And then I'm reminded that he's about to leave, that he might be gone for a few days. He could die on any given day—as long as he's not in this cottage, he's not safe. Suddenly I feel so much more worried for him.

"Take care of yourself," I say. "If you don't come back, I'll never forgive you."

Another faint smile. "I'll always come for you."

Then he's gone, and I move to sit down on his bed, a bittersweet sensation filling my body.

I find it so hard to believe that I didn't just imagine that conversation. I pull the heart charm out from under my shirt and look at the initials that are still engraved on it. He gave me this golden heart when we first met, after three years of separation. Suddenly it means so much more that he chose the shape of a heart. I hadn't read into it at the time, of course, but now…

I already can't wait to see him again.

"Did Draco leave already?"

I look up to see Blaise entering the room.

"Yes, he's gone," I reply.

"What were you thinking about?" he asks me.

I shake my head. "Nothing."

"Oh, I know you better than that."

I sigh and get to my feet, holding out my arms. "Give me a hug, okay?"

He smiles. "Whatever you need," he replies, pulling me into a hug.

It feels so good to be held, but Blaise's arms are just different. I recall the feeling of being in Draco's embrace just a few minutes ago, right after we kissed. I wanted him to hold me as close to him as humanly possible. I hadn't felt so safe in years. That I could feel that sort of security around a former nemesis… it's inconceivable.

I hear Ron clearing his throat loudly from the doorway. When this doesn't affect us, he says, "Let go of her, Zabini."

"Hello, Weasley," Blaise says without releasing me.

I can't see anything around him, and I start to back away, but he continues to hold onto me. "It's all right," I say. "You can let go of me now."

Blaise pulls his arms back and turns around to face Ron.

"I always see you grabbing at her. Can't you keep your hands to yourself?" Ron says heatedly.

Blaise smiles. "I don't hear Hermione complaining."

I sigh. "Can't you two just get along?"

"Sure," Blaise says, grinning and backing up a step to put his arm around my shoulders. "I'm perfectly fine with being Weasley's friend. He just has to learn to accept that you and I are friends."

The vein in Ron's forehead is pulsing furiously, and he's glaring at the arm draped around my shoulders, but he doesn't respond to Blaise.

"It's the middle of the night," I say. "Why don't both of you get some sleep? I'm pretty sleepy myself."

Ron doesn't respond, only continues to glare at the offending arm.

"All right. Sleep well, darling," Blaise says.

I turn toward him to raise an eyebrow at him and see that he's grinning widely at Ron's infuriated expression. Then his face turns in my direction, and he leans down to kiss my forehead.

"Get away from her!"

"Ron, shut up!" I hear Harry shout from outside the room.

Blaise starts laughing. Unable to stifle my own giggles, I join him. It's just so amusing to watch—or in this case, I suppose it would be hear—Harry act like a parental figure around Ron.

Then Blaise is flung back against the dresser and crashes to the ground.

"Ronald Weasley!" I bark, all laughter fading in an instant. I Disarm him and catch his wand. "What the hell are you doing?"

I rush toward Blaise, but he's already getting to his feet. I expect him to be furious, but he's only looking at Ron with an amused expression. It's hard for me to understand—didn't that hurt?

"Are you all right?" I ask him.

"Yes, I'm fine," he replies.

I glance back at the doorway to see that Ron is gone. "I'm so sorry about that. I didn't expect—"

"Believe me, I didn't expect it either. Do you think it'd be that easy for him to throw me otherwise?" Blaise says.

"You're taking this rather well," I observe.

He shrugs. "It's just Weasley. I'm used to him by now. I don't understand how the same things still piss him off every single time. You'd think by now he'd be used to seeing me put my arm around you."

"Can you please stop provoking him? He's already short-tempered—he doesn't need any more fuel for his fire."

"It's just so fun," Blaise says. "But I guess I'll give it a try."

"Thank you. I really am sleepy though, so…"

"I just wanted to know… did you ever talk to Draco about—"

"That is none of your business," I say, hiding away the smile that's threatening to spread across my face.

Blaise studies my expression for a moment, and I wonder if he already knows the answer.

"Tell me when you're ready, I guess," he finally says. "Oh, and about what happened at Grimmauld Place tonight… since you're tired, we'll talk in the morning. I'm sure McGonagall will be having a meeting in the morning, when everyone's had some time to recover."

I sigh. "I'd almost forgotten about that."

"Good thing I'm here to remind you, then," he says, smiling. "Well, I'm off to bed. I'll take Weasley's wand back to him."

I pass him the wand. "Good night, Blaise."

"Good night."

He pauses in the doorway to smile once more before pulling the door shut.

I really couldn't have asked for a better friend. Blaise always understands me, and he always takes my side when Harry and Ron are pushing for something else. In the past, they used to say that it was two against one, so I had to go with what they wanted. But the addition of Blaise has really evened things out, since he thinks so much more like me. I'm grateful for him.

I slip under the covers and glance in Ginny's direction. She's stable, but I'll get a bezoar for her in the morning, just to be safe.

I close my eyes and try to picture Draco's face. It comes to mind much more easily than I'd expected: strong jaw line, pointed chin, smooth cheeks, full lips, prominent brow, and those eyes… I see his eyes as they were just before he kissed me earlier tonight—hesitant, and more vulnerable than I'd ever seen them before. Those silver eyes had never looked so beautiful to me before.

Yet no matter how accurately I try to recreate his face in my mind, it just seems to fall short of reality.

I miss him.

Oh, no.

Author's Note: You'll get to see what Draco's up to next chapter! Fun, fun.