Author's Note: So I've been awol for about, oh...5 years. I was completely distracted between my last year of university, moving, finding a job, getting married, finding another job, moving again. Basically, life has been hectic and I forgot about this world for a really long time. I've missed it, and hopefully things will be settling down in the new year (I always say that, it's yet to happen).

I apologize to everyone who was following this story and gave up on me, I know I hate it when authors do that and I feel like a hypocrite. I hope I can make it up to you by writing a lot and often in the next few weeks.

I have a few ideas for new stories that I may start to write simultaneously, but I promise I will continue this fic until I finish it (even if it takes another 5 years). Just kidding, I won't pull a GRRM on you guys :) Now, back to the show.

...

Chapter 4: The Dates

As Hermione ran down the hall as quickly as her legs would carry her, glancing behind to make sure he wasn't following, she felt a pang of guilt at her abrupt departure. She knew she shouldn't have done that, run away from him like that in the middle of their conversation, but she was afraid of what he was about to say.

"'Mione, can we talk?" he had said and her heart constricted. She knew what he wanted to talk about and she knew what her response would be. It would be painful and heart wrenching and that was the last thing she wanted right now. So as he turned to enter an abandoned classroom, she bolted down the hall even as he yelled her name and ran after her.

She glanced over her shoulder again, knowing that he had stopped following her long before but not wanting to take a chance. She would slow down as soon as she reached her room. As she blindly turned the corner to the hallway where the portrait hung, she ran face-first into a brick wall.

At least it felt like a brick wall, up until the wall collapsed underneath her with a loud oomph, his arms coming up around her as they both fell hard to the floor.

"Merlin's balls, Granger! What the bloody hell are you doing tackling people around corners like that?" Draco gasped, the wind knocked out of him from the impact of Hermione then the ground.

Hermione found herself lying on top of Draco, her face in the crook of his neck and his hands unintentionally wrapped around her waist. She pushed herself up off of him slightly, which only caused him to gasp again as she put her full weight on his chest.

"Gods, are you trying to kill me woman?" he growled, and she dropped down again, moving her hands to either side of his head.

"Sorry," she muttered sheepishly, embarrassed at her clumsy actions. She glanced behind her again as she caught her breath, her hair falling in Draco's face.

"Great. Now you're smothering me with that mop you call hair," he spluttered, moving her hair out of the way. He couldn't help but notice how soft it was as the pleasant smell of lavender permeated his senses.

Hermione turned back to look at him and her breath caught in her throat. She had just become painfully aware that she was lying on top of Draco Malfoy in the middle of the hallway, her face inches away from his.

She jerked back quickly, only to be pulled back to his chest immediately. He grunted at the impact glaring up at her. Apparently he had either not realized their current condition, or was not as affected by it as she was. She couldn't ignore the way his body felt under hers, or how his arms had held her close and broken the impact of their fall. She shook the thoughts out of her head as she tried to get up again, only to notice they were attached.

"If you're trying to kill me, Granger, you're doing a piss poor job of it," Draco growled, as he tried to prop himself up on his elbows.

"I'm stuck you dolt," Hermione snapped at him, pointing to their chests. Her necklace had wound itself around one of the buttons on his shirt, keeping her from moving away from him.

As she began to untangle the chain, Draco gave an annoyed sigh and lay back down on the ground. He finally took stock of the situation, no longer winded from being tackled, and realized he was now lying beneath Hermione Granger, his hands resting on her hips. He smirked and looked up at her. Her face was flushed, from running or embarrassment or something else, and it made her glow. She furrowed her brow as she pulled at the necklace, biting on her lower lip in concentration.

Draco's eyes lowered to where her hands were working away and his smirk grew. Merlin, she really does have great tits, he thought as he stared down the top that was open to him as she leaned over.

Hermione fidgeted slightly, feeling uncomfortable in their current state but not able to untangle her necklace or herself from Draco's embrace.

"Granger, don't do that," Malfoy said sharply.

"Do what?" she replied, shifting again. "Try to remove ourselves from our current predicament? Would you rather we stay like this all afternoon?"

Yes, Draco thought, groaning inwardly at her constant movement. She had readjusted herself to be more comfortable, and in the process moved her legs to either side of his, essentially straddling him. This would have been quite enjoyable, except her constant movement was making him a bit too excited.

"If you keep moving like that, we will be staying here all afternoon," he groaned in a low voice, closing his eyes as she moved again.

"What?" she asked obliviously. She looked down at him, curious as to why he looked so uncomfortable. "Malfoy, are you ok?" Did I hurt him? I can't have knocked into him that hard, she thought self-consciously.

And then she felt him harden slightly between her legs, his fingers digging into her hips to keep her from moving. Gasping, she tried to move away again, but was held back by her entangled necklace. She swallowed hard as he opened his eyes, which were now darkened with lust. She shivered involuntarily.

He sat up slowly, bringing her up with him, their eyes never wavering. He took his wand out of his pocket and cast a spell quietly. Hermione's chain gracefully unwound itself from his button and settled back on her neck, the pendant falling dangerously close to where her shirt parted and a shadow of her cleavage was visible. Draco's eyes ghosted down to her chest before staring back into hers.

"I knew you were trying to kill me," he whispered, their faces so close she could feel his breath brush across her lips. She was vaguely aware that they were no longer attached to each other yet neither of them had moved from their position. She was still straddling him, sitting in his lap now as his hands rested on her upper thighs.

She stared at his face, unsure of how to read the emotions he was showing her. She was used to his smirks, his sneers, his scowls and his glares, but this…?

"Malfoy," she breathed, barely audible. She saw his pupils dilate slightly, hearing her say his name in that manner.

"If I were trying to kill you, you'd be dead by now."

Draco remained still for a moment before a grin spread across his face. He dropped his head, chuckling, and Hermione let out a breath she didn't know she was holding as his blond locks brushed against her nose. Sandalwood, she recognized, smiling as his laugh shook his body and hers in turn.

His laughter subsiding, he looked back at her and saw she was smirking back at him, one rivaling his own.

"Touché, Granger," he replied, returning her smirk. Lifting her slightly and sliding his legs out from underneath her, he rose to his feet. For the second time in so many days, he reached out a hand to pull her to hers.

He looked over her shoulder as she smoothed out the front of her robes, trying to slow her heart rate down.

"Who were you running from this time, Granger?" Draco drawled, looking back at her as she dusted herself off. Her eyes widened instantly and Draco cocked his head to the side, regarding her with a curious and concerned expression.

"Granger?" he repeated, quirking an eyebrow.

Without replying, Hermione glanced over her shoulder quickly. Confirming that he still wasn't following her, she brushed past Draco and ran into the common room and back to safety, leaving Draco dumbfounded behind her.

"Mental that one," he muttered to himself, and continued down the hallway, relishing the memory of the feeling of her body on top of his.

…

"'Mione?" Harry asked, knocking on the portrait to the Head's common room. "Are you in there? I'd like to talk to you."

Hermione groaned from her seat on the couch. She knew exactly what he wanted to talk to her about and she didn't want to deal with it. As close as three of them were, she was always bitter about the fact that Harry always took Ron's side when he was at odds with Hermione.

"Hermione?" Harry repeated, rapping his knuckles on the portrait again. "Please, let me in. I just want to talk."

Sighing, Hermione strode over to the door, opening it and stepping aside for Harry to enter.

Looking around the spacious common room, Harry let out a low whistle. "Wow, all of this just because you're the smartest girl in our year? Not even a little bit fair," he joked.

"You saved the entire wizarding world and you still have to share your chambers with five other boys," Hermione replied with a laugh, thankful that he wasn't going to bring up Ron.

"At least none of those boys is one Draco Malfoy," Harry retorted with a shudder. "There aren't enough galleons in the world to pay me to share a room with him."

Hermione smiled at him, shaking her head reproachfully. "He's not that bad, you know."

"Maybe," Harry conceded with a shrug, knowing full well that Draco was not the same boy who once tormented him. "But I'll never stop loving to hate him."

Laughing, Hermione took a seat on the couch again, motioning for Harry to join her.

He sat down and turned to Hermione. "So that was a graceful exit you had after Charms today," he said with a sly grin.

The smile fell from Hermione's face as she glared at her friend. "You know exactly why I ran away from him, Harry. He was about to ask me to the ball!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration.

"Would that be so bad?" Harry countered.

"Yes, Harry it would," Hermione replied, getting angrier by the minute. "After the hell that we went through this past year, trying to get our friendship back on track, it would be a terrible idea for us to do anything remotely couple-y together."

"Well, he must feel the same way, because he wasn't planning on asking you to the ball," Harry said with a sad smile.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked in confusion.

"He wanted to tell you that he was planning on taking Parvati to the ball. He wanted to tell you before you heard it from someone else, to make sure you were all right with it," Harry explained calmly, putting his hand on her knee.

"Oh," Hermione replied, slightly taken aback. "That's great then!" she gushed, smiling broadly. "Oh no, he must think I'm an idiot for running away like that!" she realized with an embarrassed laugh, covering her face with her hands.

Harry laughed, patting her knee softly. "Not an idiot, no. Maybe a little overdramatic…"

She pouted slightly, thinking of a way to apologize to her friend.

"So who are you going to the ball with?" he asked, breaking her out of her thoughts.

"Nobody," she answered, glancing over at him. He quirked an eyebrow, looking at her quizzically. She got up from the couch, heading over to the kitchen. "Tea?"

"You're going stag?" he continued, following her. "I find it hard to believe that nobody has asked you to the ball, Hermione."

"Who said nobody asked?" she retorted, filling the kettle with water. "Just because someone asks, doesn't mean I automatically have to go with them."

He shrugged noncommittally as she sighed, setting the kettle on the stove. "I want to go alone. I'm glad that Ron is going with someone else, but I don't want to cause any unnecessary awkward situations by bringing somebody. Besides, I quite like the idea of going stag. I've spent the last seven years with boys: with you, with Ron, with both of you, with all of the Order. It'll be nice to just be by myself for once, on my own."

Harry looked at his friend closely, a small smile growing on his face. He hadn't realized how beautiful she had grown up to be; he could see why his best friend fell in love with her. After everything they had been through together, he was glad that she was finding peace with herself, even if it wasn't with Ron.

He grabbed her arm and pulled her into a hug, kissing the top of her head. "I think that's a great idea, 'Mione. Just make sure you save me a dance."

"Haha, of course," she laughed, squeezing him before handing him his cup of tea.

"Well, we all know who I'm going with," he said jokingly, smiling at the thought of his girlfriend.

Hermione froze, turning away from him as he continued to talk. She didn't know how to respond to him, not wanting to tell him the truth until Ginny had the chance to talk to her boyfriend herself.

"Have you noticed?" Harry asked, as Hermione zoned back in.

"Noticed?" she repeated, not having heard the rest of Harry's monologue.

"Noticed anything different about Ginny?" he clarified. "I know you guys haven't been hanging out a lot because of how busy you are, but have you noticed how she sometimes seems…I dunno…off?"

"I haven't noticed," she lied, ducking her head so she wouldn't have to look him in the eye. "Harry, if you think there's something wrong, you should just talk to her."

"Hmmm, yeah I guess," he thought, more to himself. "I suppose I could do that. Maybe it's all in my head though." He stared off into space, lost in thought for a moment, before he shook his head and looked back at Hermione.

"Any chance you want to look over my Transfiguration essay?"

…

Blaise threw his head back laughing, as Theo recounted the fiasco that was Gregory Goyle asking Millicent Bulstrode to the ball.

"I dunno who was more mortified by it all, him or her," he choked out in between fits of laughter.

Draco smirked, rolling his eyes at his friends' childish antics as they sat around the couches in the Slytherin common room. If he had to hear one more story about who was taking whom to this ball, he'd –

"Hi Drake," Pansy cooed as she sauntered up to him, seemingly seductively. She batted her eyelashes at him as she sat down next to him, linking her arms through his.

"Pans," he acknowledged with a sneer, trying to move further down the couch and away from her. Theo and Blaise watched their interactions curiously, barely suppressing laughter at their friend's misery.

"You know, Draco, the ball is only a week away," she hinted, smirking and sliding her hand up his leg.

"I'm aware," he drawled, removing her hand from his leg and rising from his spot on the couch. He glared down at her as her expression changed from seductive to snooty. I don't know which is worse, he thought with a shudder.

"Well, why haven't you asked me yet?" she demanded, standing up to face him with her hands on her hips. "If you think I'm going to wait forever, you're wrong. I've had plenty of other men ask me to escort them and I've turned them all down for you!"

"I'd advise you to reconsider," he replied, shrugging and picking off an imaginary piece of lint off of his robes. "I'd just as soon not go than have you escort me."

Pansy's eyes grew wide with rage as she huffed for a response. "Well…you…I can't believe you!" she cried, running up the stairs to the girls' dorms.

Blaise and Theo began laughing again, and much to Draco's dismay so did the rest of the room. Fed up with all of the Slytherin drama, he moved to leave the room just as Adrian Pucey walked in.

"Malfoy," he nodded, greeting his colleague with a smirk.

"Pucey," Draco responded, not bothering to look at him on his way out of the common room.

"So I hear you've found out about my extracurricular activities with a certain Gryffindor," he drawled tauntingly, following Draco out and stopping him in his tracks. He slowly turned around, narrowing his eyes at his tactless housemate.

"You know, I always thought you were the dumbest little shit to call himself a Slytherin," Draco began, slowly approaching him. "Now you've gone and confirmed that fact undoubtedly."

"You're just jealous that I got to her first," Adrian sneered, stepping closer to him.

Draco glared down at him menacingly. "Why on earth would I be jealous of you picking off Potter's leftovers?"

Adrian glared at him, not wanting to lose the battle as Draco turned away again. "Well now that I'm done with her, maybe I'll try a new one."

"My sympathies to the poor girl," Draco quipped as he began to walk away.

"That Granger sure has grown up. And it's always the bookish ones that are hellcats in bed. I bet she'd look delectable sprawled out across my —"

"EVERTE STATUM!" Draco roared, sending Adrian crashing against the stone wall.

As Adrian lay crumpled on the ground, groaning from the impact, he looked up to see an enraged Draco towering over him with his wand drawn out.

"Go near her, and I'll make sure you never enjoy the pleasure of a woman for the rest of your pitiful life," he threatened cooly, shooting him with a light stunner for good measure. "Like she'd ever give you the time of day anyway."

He turned to walk away once again, fury still etched across his face.

"What would daddy dearest think about your new affection for the mudblood?" Adrian taunted at his retreating form, slowly getting up off the ground and heading towards the Slytherin common room angrily.

"Fifteen points from Slytherin for use of derogatory language, Pucey," Draco called out, not looking back. "And why don't you join him in Azkaban and ask him?"

Turning the corner, Draco continued to seethe as he made his way up to the Heads' common room. That was stupid, he grumbled, angry at himself for reacting so strongly to Adrian's taunts towards Hermione.

He sighed in relief as he entered the common room to find it empty of the bushy-haired Gryffindor. Treading up the stairs to his room, he couldn't help but think this Opening Ball was more trouble than it was worth.

…

Hermione found Ron, Harry, Seamus and Ginny sitting in the courtyard playing a round of Exploding Snap. She hesitated before approaching, catching Ginny's glare before she plastered a fake smile on her face.

"Ron, can we talk?" she interrupted, gesturing to a quiet corner on the other side of the courtyard.

He looked up at her and nodded, following her to the bench as Harry looked on encouragingly.

"I wanted to apologize for before," she started, sitting and turning slightly towards him, "for well, basically running away from you. You must have thought I was an idiot."

Ron chuckled lightly, shaking his head. "I shouldn't have started out so seriously, I'm sure you thought I was going to bring up the possibility of you and me again."

She tilted her head at him, chewing her bottom lip nervously.

"Which I'm not," he clarified quickly, smiling sadly at the quick flash of relief across her face. "I understood everything you said this summer, and I'm trying to be better about it."

Hermione nodded, smiling back at him gratefully. "I'm glad, because I would hate for things to continue to be weird between us." She reached out and tentatively placed her hand over his.

"I miss being friends, Ronald."

He looked down at her hand and nodded. "Me too, 'Mione. I only wanted to tell you that I was taking Parv to the ball, so that you heard it from me and not anyone else."

"I know, Harry told me. After he told me how foolish I was for running away," she recalled with a laugh. "I'm glad, I think this is a good thing. Although, I'm surprised she said yes after the fiasco at the Yule Ball."

"I promised I would actually dance instead of skulking in the corner this time. Besides she thought it would be a fitting tribute to Lav if we both went together," he replied solemnly.

"I agree," she said, patting his hand gently before withdrawing.

"Promise to save me a dance? A fast one, no slow dancing."

Laughing, Hermione pulled him into a hug while nodding. "Sure, just come find me whenever you'd like."

As he got up to rejoin the game with his sister and friends, Hermione felt relieved that things seemed to be looking up between the two of them. However, as she glanced at Ginny running her hands through Harry's hair as he looked at her lovingly, she sighed and headed back into the castle.

I knew this wasn't going to last.

…

Thanks to anyone who stuck around after all these years, hopefully the story hasn't lost it's flow!

I'm a review whore. Please please me.