A/N...aaaand I'm back. Enjoy!!JM

If I hadn't been assigned a different dormitory after my appointment as Head Girl, maybe I would have been able to cool down Ron and Harry's tempers (and that's a weak maybe). I should have known they were too fast to accept my relationship with Draco. In Transfiguration, they took their seats on either side of me, and were suspiciously silent as they pulled out their quills and parchment.

Then, they both turned to face me. I would have to turn in my seat if I had to make eye contact with either of them. I was still slightly loopy from the adventure down by the lake, so I didn't notice their serious demeanors at first.

'Hermione,' Harry said quietly, resting his arm on the table, 'Ron and I have been talking.'

'Have you now?' I asked as if I didn't know what's coming, not taking my eyes of the chalkboard at the front of the class.

'Yes, we have,' Ron said, 'and we don't think Malfoy is good for you.'

'You don't think he's good for me.'

'No. Come on, Hermione, you missed a due date, and you don't even seem to care!' Harry told me, leaning in.

'You say it like it's a bad thing.'

'That is not the Hermione we know,' Ron added, leaning in also.

'I don't believe this,' I muttered, shaking my head. Before they could add anything, though, I snapped, 'Actually, I do believe this. I do believe that you guys would keep holding on to the past. But I thought that you would be able to at least try to deal for me.'

'Come on, Hermione! It's Draco Malfoy! The slimy little git you slapped in third year?'

'I'm well aware who he is, Ronald, thank you.'

'Look, Hermione, we're not trying to tell you who to date-' Harry started, but I interrupted.

'Look Harry, yes you are. You think you know who he is from when we were kids!'

'We're just looking out for you, Hermione,' Harry told me, putting his hand on my back. He sounded as if he were speaking to an unreasonable child.

'Some people don't change, Hermione!' Ron said, scowling at the recollection of years past. 'And Malfoy is one of those people.'

Alright. Now, you know that I'm usually good with my temper, right? I just want to make that clear.

Thankfully, this class was a practical one, so everyone had started talking and laughing, and my little outburst went pretty much unnoticed. 'Stop calling him Malfoy!' I cried indignantly. 'His name is Draco, okay? Draco! Look, guys, have you spoken two civil words to him in your lives?' I paused and looked both of them over. 'No? I didn't think so. How can you be so insensitive? '

'We're being insensitive? Us? Insensitive?!' Ron asked, practically laughing at the concept. (Ron, insensitive? I know. Stop laughing.) 'Hermione, open your eyes! He's slime! He's… he's… he's the insensitive bastard who'll drop you the second he sees a sweeter ass walk past!'

A tense silence spread for a moment as I stared Ron down. When I replied, it was in a deadly quiet that he had never heard before. 'You think all I am to him is eye candy? Why, because no one could like me for my mind?'

Ron, realizing his mistake, blanched white, and muttered, 'That's not what I meant…'

'Oh no?' I asked, shaking at the insult, 'What is it that you meant then?'

'Hermione, please,' Harry begged me, 'we only want what's best for you.'

'No, Harry, I don't think you do, or else you just might be able to see past this stupid rivalry and see what's really important.' I paused as he gave me a questioning look. 'Draco – not Malfoy, Draco – makes me happy. He and I have something good going. Now, I don't know where it's going to go from here. Maybe it's a fling, and maybe it's a long term commitment to each other. But either way, guys, it's my life, no matter how much you think he deserves to be despised. I handled the Death Eaters pretty well, I think, so you should trust that I can take care of my own affairs.' None of us said anything, until I told them, 'Look, you two: you know I love you, and appreciate the fact that you're worried, but… this is something that I think – I know - you're wrong about.'

The rest of the class went by in relative silence (with the rest of the class giggling over various mistakes made while trying to transfigure cakes into seat cushions). When the bell rang, however, Ron sternly told me, 'We're not done discussing this,' and left before I could reply.

'So, how was Transfiguration?' Draco asked me as we walked down the packed hallways to lunch.

How was Transfiguration? Well, my two best friends don't want us seeing each other, and I wouldn't be surprised if they ambushed you and threatened to kill you unless you break up with me… not that you'd do it… you're far too stubborn for that. 'Fine…'

'Liar,' he told me, scaring some third-years out of our way.

'… "fine" isn't exactly a lie, per se…'

'Well, then, what is it?'

'It's… an overall account of the period,' I replied, looking up at him as he cocked his eyebrow audaciously. 'What? It is. And how would you know, anyways? Professor Snape didn't teach you Legilimensy, did he?'

'No, he didn't. Besides, if he had, I wouldn't have had to ask, would I?' he told me, smirking. 'Not so smart, now, are we?'

'It's been nice talking to you, Draco,' I told him, turning around and marching away.

I had barely counted to three when I heard him yell out, 'Hermione Granger, get your shapely ass back here immediately!'

Looking back, I mimicked his former expression and replied haughtily, 'That is not how you address the Head Girl, Draco, thank you. Five points from Slytherin.' I turned again and began to walk away, leaving him, mouth agape, in the middle of the hallway.

'I'm sorry!' he called out behind me, but not without an audible sigh of resignation.

Smiling to myself, I turned back and joined him again. After a moment, I told him, 'That was too easy. It took you almost two days to get one out of me – it took me less than a minute to get one of you.'

Shaking his head, he replied, 'I'm just better at picking my battles. So, how was Transfiguration?'

I rolled my eyes at him and said, 'Fine, if you insist. But don't get all possessive…'

'What did they say?'

'… if you must know, they're still not okay with us being involved…'

'I knew it!' he exclaimed, making the group of kids ahead of us jump. 'I knew they couldn't accept it.'

'… and they're trying to talk me out of you…'

'What?!'

'… but it's not going to work…'

'Did you tell them that?'

'… because I told them that we're good together…'

'Of course we are!'

'… and you're not just using me for my looks…'

'Of course I'm not…'

'… that you do care for me…'

'Care for you? I'm in love with you!'

'… and I think the best way to make them see reason is to spend Christmas with them.'

'… excuse me?'

'If you weren't too busy making smartass comebacks, you would have heard me. I said, we should spend Christmas with them.'

'... you mean… at Weasley's house?'

'If you can't call them by their first names, I don't know how you'll ever reconcile.'

'I'll go only so far, and I don't see a future where they're anything but Potter and Weasley.'

'But that's the problem, isn't it?' I told him, 'As long as you're still remembering school days, nothing's going to get resolved!'

'You can't just forget the past, Hermione!' he told me sternly as he stopped in front of our dormitory door.

'You sound like them! If we can't just forget the past, then how are we here? How is it that I, Hermione Granger, a filthy little mudblood, am having a relationship with you, Draco Malfoy, son of the infamous follower of Lord Voldemort, Lucious Malfoy? You do remember our past, don't you?'

'Of course I do,' he replied quietly.

'Well then?'

'…Happy bloody Holidays.'

A/N again... Aha! See? I told you I was back! Don't worry, I'm currently totally stressed because I'm choosing universities, and I have another… two?... stories on the go, AND I have some other stuff going on that's just about driving me nuts (plus I'm racing a friend of mine at who can read the books faster... go me!!) so I am a little behind in anything, but I promise, I haven't forgotten about you!! Oh yea… Review!!! ttlyJM.