I own nothing Harry Potter!

Sorry this took so long to get up, it's been a busy few weeks. This isn't exactly where I saw this chapter going, but i'm just going to go with it.

Enjoy!

Draco POV

I was walking towards the library later that day in a surprisingly happy mood. After everything that had gone down last night and this morning, I feel like I should have been dragging, but I wasn't. Knowing that Hermione was going to stick beside me no matter what Weasley did made everything better. Now speaking of Weasley, I needed to find him and give him a piece of my mind because I couldn't let him get away with what he'd tried to do last night.

After I'd ripped Weasley a new one, then we'd drop the grudge and start working on setting him and Pansy up. Hopefully if the two of them were together they would forget about Hermione and I and just move on.

Just as I was about to enter the library none other than the guy I was looking for came out, "Why are you so happy Malfoy?" he spits with a smirk on his face.

"Because I get to see you," I send back, my words dripping in sarcasm. This is the first time I've actually seen Weasley today, alone from breakfast in the Great Hall. It is the first chance I have to talk to him alone and tell him what exactly is on my mind.

Ron ignores my comment and teases, "Happy that Hermione now sees you for who you really are?" he asks and my fists clench at my sides. I can deal with his usual shit, but what he brings up Hermione, especially after last night, I see red.

"About that," I say as calmly as I can. "We need to talk," I say as my eyes flick over the corridor seeing there are a few people milling in and out of the library.

"Then talk," Weasley rolls his eyes and puts his hands on his hips, just like Ginny does.

"Over there," I point to the deserted corridor to the left of the library, the exact same corridor Hermione and I had snogged in earlier this week.

When Weasley gives me a skeptical look, I answer, "Less people around to hear you get brought down a few notches." Weasley just rolls his eyes and follows me to the corridor. It's clear he's skeptical that I will actually be bringing him down a few notches.

"What do you want to yell at me about Malfoy? The fact that Hermione finally saw you for what you are?" Weasley says cockily. I just shake my head at him, he is so full of himself and this is coming from me.

"No, I want to talk about the fact that Hermione finally sees you for what you are," I answer, keeping my voice level. I am not going to be the one to raise their voice first, Weasley will have to do that. I am going to remain as civilized as possible while pointing out what an arse he has been to his best friend.

"Oh, and what's that?" Weasley asks, completely full of himself. "Her best friend?"

"No, the complete jack arse that is willing to do anything to make sure she stays unhappy," I answer, glaring at Weasley.

"How am I making her unhappy?" he snaps, his face turning red at my accusations.

"You're trying to break us up," I answer. "Can't you see that I make her happy? Why the bloody hell are you trying to make her miserable?" I ask, my voice hard.

"She is not miserable," he protests. "She's better off without you, you're no saint Malfoy," he snaps angrily.

"I never said I was a saint, far from it to be honest, but for some inexplicable reason I make Hermione happy so why can't you just leave it be?" I ask as Weasley continues to get more pissed each second.

"You don't make her happy," Weasley snaps. He looks like he's ready to start stomping his feet like a little kid, I'd find it funny if I didn't want to rip his head off. I was actually surprising myself at how calm I was staying.

"Why don't we let her be the judge of that," I suggest coolly as I shift my weight from one foot to the other.

"Do it matter anymore?" he snaps. "She broke up with you last night!" he raises his voice in frustration.

"That's where you're wrong Weasley," I send him one of my infamous smirks, knowing I have the upper hand.

"What are you bloody talking about?" he spits in anger, in face red.

"Hermione didn't break up with me last night," I say slowly as if I'm talking to a little kid, then sit back and smile to myself as what I just said sinks in.

"What the fuck!?" Weasley bursts, his face turning from angry to pissed to livid in about point three seconds. "Why the hell would Hermione not break up with you? You made out with Pansy!" he yells, clearly believing his own lies. He knew damn right well that I didn't kiss Pansy, she threw herself at me.

"She didn't fucking fall for it dumb arse," I snap, finally losing my cool. "She knows me well enough to know I wouldn't even dream of cheating on her. She knows you're a big enough jack arse to set up the fucking dare and she knows you want to break us up. She didn't fall for it!"

"What the fuck does she see in you anyway? You're not good enough for her!" he snaps, fists clenched at his side and face red as ever.

"I know I'm not good enough for her!" I snap back. Trust me, I know I'm not good enough for her at all, but she doesn't seem to believe that. "You're not good enough for her either!" Weasley tries to cut in but I just continue. "Don't even try to deny it, the whole world knows you're in love with her. Well guess what," I snap. "I'm in love with her too and she chose me, not you. Me!" As soon as the words leave my mouth I freeze, we both do. Did I really just admit that I loved Hermione? Did I actually mean it? I already knew the answer to both and it was yes. Yes, I loved Hermione. I wasn't sure when I'd fallen completely, but I had and there was no denying it.

"You…You…You what?" Weasley stutters as what I said sinks in. His face is no longer red, instead it's white as a sheet. With those three little words, the anger seemed to drain out of both of us. We weren't fighting anymore, no, we were trying to figure out what the bloody hell was going on. I'd just admitted to Weasley that I loved Hermione. I'd admitted it to him before I even admitted it to myself and that confused the bloody hell out of me.

I take a deep breath and run a hand through my hair as I repeat myself, slowly and calmly this time trying the words out for size. "I love Hermione."

"But…" Weasley trails off, his face full on confusion and shock.

"I don't know," I hold up my hands to stop him before he has the chance to finish the question. I know what's coming and I have no answers for him. "I don't know how or why or when or whatever, but I love her," I say, my voice quiet as I look up at the ceiling and process everything that's spilling out of my mouth. It's almost like I'm on autopilot and have no control over what comes next. "I just want her to be happy," I say quietly knowing the words are true. If I'm not the one that makes her happy, then I'd let her go, but it's clear right now that I am the one that makes her happy so I'm going to hold on as tight as I can.

"You love her?" Weasley asks slowly.

I nod. "Yes, she might not feel the same way, but I'm going to need you to back off so she can figure out what she wants. If it's you or some other bloke she wants then I'll back off," I say quietly. "If it's me she wants then I'll give her everything she ever wants."

The corridor is filled with silence as I wait for a response from Weasley. He is studying me as if he's trying to figure out if I'm being honest or not. We both seem to have sobered up and gotten pasted the anger that way between us. Now, we both have to agree that we need to leave this up to Hermione. The two of us battling it out isn't going to help.

After a while, Weasley finally speaks. "Fine," he nods. "I'll back off and let Hermione do what she wants."

"Thanks," I say before I can stop myself, it's extremely out of character for me to be appreciative of Weasley. Then again, Hermione's starting to make me do a lot of out of character things.

He just shrugs it off and says, "First, you have to let me talk to Hermione and sort all of this out."

"Okay," I nod. I knew Hermione wanted to talk to Ron, the real Ron not the jealous Ron.

Just like that our little confrontation is over, it was no where near the knock down drag out fight I was expecting. I'd expected a lot of screaming and yelling and possibly a thrown punch or two, but we both seemed to be too exhausted by everything that had been going on for that. Had I possibly just come to speaking terms with Weasley? Had I really just admitted how I felt for Hermione?

Now all I could do was hope that when Weasley talked to Hermione she still chose me. Maybe all of this schemeing and plotting to get Pansy and Ron together had been for nothing, maybe it really was this simple. We were both tired of all of the craziness and done fighting the truth. Maybe Ron would reconcile with Hermione and she'd chose me. Then I could talk to Pansy and start setting her and Weasely up, but first I needed Hermione to chose me. Then sometime down the road I'd have to tell her how I actually felt, that I was in love with her.

Thanks for reading and I'd love to know what you think!