Later that evening Hermione found herself across from Malfoy at one of the tables near the back of the Library. After confirming there was no one nearby she pulled out a parchment and wrote the word "Contract" at the top. Malfoy raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you're going to suck the fun out of this for me."

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. "There has to be rules if we're going to be doing this fake dating thing."

"Why does there have to be rules? Where's your spontaneity?"

"I am a terrible liar Malfoy, I think my spontaneity would ruin it."

Malfoy sat back in his chair with his arms folded. "Fine, what do you have in mind?"

"First off, no more kissing, and no touching."

"What? Granger, you really think people are going to believe we're dating if I can't kiss you or even touch you?"

Hermione sighed. "Not all of us have experience with dating. I don't want all my firsts to be fake."

"Wait, does this mean you're a vi…"

"That isn't the point, Malfoy," she bit at him with clenched teeth.

Draco raised his hands in a surrender position. "But seriously you can't expect us to convince anyone if I can't at least touch you."

Hermione thought for a minute and nodded. "Fine, but you can only put your arm around my waist."

"Ooh Scandalous," he remarked and Hermoine narrowed her eyes at him.

"Fine, but you have to come to the parties with me."

"What parties?" Hermione asked, hesitating to write down what he had said.

"Oh right…Slytherin has some get-togethers in the dungeons every once in a while. You know like the one you somehow were invited to back in our 6th year. We never invited you or Pothead…well because you're Head Girl and Potter is Potter."

"Don't call him that," she said, finishing writing it down. "I'll go with you, and I won't report you either."

Draco looked mildly surprised by it. "You won't report a party? You're Head Girl. I thought that was like the essence of you."

Hermione looked up at him curiously and shrugged. "You'll find there is a lot about me you don't know."

Draco nodded slowly. "Fair enough. Add the Yule Ball there."

This year, in celebration for having everyone back and for Hogwarts being reopened, the school decided to throw another Yule Ball. Which meant staying at Hogwarts for the holidays and attending the dance on Christmas Eve. Hermione really didn't think they would still be doing this until then.

"Do you really think we'll still be, you know, together by then? That's three months away."

"Put it as a contingency in case we are. No one in their right mind would let their boyfriend or girlfriend go to the Yule Ball without them."

Hermione put it on the list but didn't think she really needed to. That's why she said okay. "Fine, but you have to go to Hogsmeade trips with me. But NO Madame Puddifoots. That place is too much."

Draco chuckled at this. "Agreed, no Madame Puddifoots. Also add studying in the library. Since this is your favorite place to study, we should be seen studying together."

Hermione did as such. "Anything else?"

"I can write you little love notes, if you would like. Astoria was always on me to write to her, so if I did it for you, she would flip out."

Hermione scoffed a little at this but nodded. "Okay, then make sure to give them to me when she's around," she added as she drew two lines at the end of the contract and signed her name. She pushed it over for Malfoy to sign his as well. "Then we are officially fake dating, Malfoy.," she said, putting her hand out for him to shake.

Malfoy eyed her hand curiously. "What's that for?"

"It's to shake. It's a muggle thing. It's an acknowledgement of a sealed contract."

Malfoy hesitated but put his hand out and Hermione clasped them together and shook it for him.

"Alright, then I'll take you back to your Common Room."

Hermione paused as she heard this. "What?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Granger, this is something a boyfriend would do. If you keep acting surprised at everything, you're going to make this a lot more difficult than it needs to be."

"Malfoy…you do realize I live at the Gryffindor tower right?"

"I'm not daft. I know where I'm going."

"But aren't you worried someone will hex you? You know how some of the Gryffindors can be."

"If you're talking about Potter, I'll be fine Hermione. I've taken a hex from him and lived to tell the tale. Besides, I really don't think he's going to hex me for making sure my girlfriend gets back to her Common Room safely."

Hermione winced as he mentioned the hex that Harry had unknowingly hit him with in the bathroom. "Sorry," she muttered and Malfoy shrugged.

"It's in the past. No need to dwell on it. Now come on. I don't think my girlfriend would be very happy with me if I was out after curfew," he said with a wink and Hermione couldn't help but feel a little heat rise to her cheeks. She was really going to have to get used to him calling her his girlfriend, even if it was fake.

They walked in silence all the way to the Gryffindor portrait hole where the Fat Lady was singing to some portrait to her left. "So, this is the Gryffindor Common Room huh?" Malfoy commented.

The Fat Lady turned to him, "Go away snake, you have no business here."

Hermione's eyes widened and she was about to say something when she heard Malfoy chuckle. "Well aren't you a ray of sunshine. Granger, I'll see you Monday morning, what time do you usually head down to breakfast?" He asked and Hermione raised her eyebrows. "I try to be down there somewhat early. Maybe around seven?"

"Alright, Goodnight Granger," he said as he gave the Fat Lady a curt nod and turned on his feet. "Goodnight, Malfoy," she called after him and said the password to the portrait after she was sure Malfoy was out of earshot.

"Hermione, there you are."

She turned to Harry as he stood up from their favorite couch in front of the fire. It was obvious he had been waiting up for her as almost everyone else had already retired to their dorms. "Hello Harry," she said casually and she went to sit down next to him.

"Where were you? I haven't seen you all day, and I thought we were going to talk?"

Hermione sighed and massaged her neck, stretching as she decided on her answer. "I was at the library, studying with Draco."

"Draco? As in Malfoy?"

Hermione nodded as confirmation and Harry raised an eyebrow. "Since when has he been Draco?"

"Since we started dating," she said simply, as if it was no big deal. Inside her stomach felt like it was being tied in knots.

"Wait…What? You hate Malfoy. I don't understand what is going on with you."

Hermione sighed. "I don't hate Malfoy."

"He called you a…a…well you know what, for seven years, he constantly made fun of you for everything, and now you're dating him? I'm not sure how this could happen. Did I miss something? Hermione, he was a freaking Death Eater for Merlin's sake."

"Harry, you know as well as I do that Draco didn't really want to be a Death Eater, he even told his family he didn't recognize you when we were sent to the Manor. And believe me, the stinging hex I sent at you didn't do that well of a job disguising you. Anyone with half a brain would have recognized it was you. You testified for his release as well. How can you bring this all up now? Was he a pain in the arse as a kid? Absolutely. But people can change Harry."

Harry sighed and nodded. "Okay, I relent, I'll stop calling him a Death Eater, but I doubt he's changed that much. At least it seems so fast. I just don't know how you got to this point."

"Do you remember that one party in sixth year that I got ridiculously drunk at?"

"Yes, I remember. The one at the Slytherin Common Room?"

"That's the one. Well, while I was drunk Draco and I started talking. And, for the first time ever, he wasn't atrocious to me. At some point we kissed," she said with a blush coloring her cheeks, I've had a little crush on him since. Turns out that so did he."

"Wasn't he with that other Slytherin, Astoria or whatever?"

"They broke up, and he said it was final…so we got together."

"Huh... So what, am I going to have to be friends with Malfoy?"

Hermione laughed at this. "You don't have to be anything with him if you don't want to, Harry. I just ask that you're civil with him when he's around."

Harry nodded thoughtfully. "So, I guess we don't really need to talk about why you sent that letter then?"

Hermione knew this was going to come up, despite her telling him that she was dating Draco. She had hoped that he would forget about it or at least avoid it once he found out about Draco, but that didn't seem to be the case. "Harry…Please let's just not talk about that."

"Hermione, I think we should. I mean…what was in that letter was pretty intense."

"Harry, I'm just not ready. I'm sorry," she said as she stood from the couch and pulled her book bag over her shoulder. "I'll see you in the morning. I have some rounds to make now that curfew is over," she added.

"Hermione, we have to talk about this."

"Not now, Harry. Please," Hermione said with finality as she walked briskly through the Common Room and out the portrait hole. In all of her time being friends with Harry she had never felt so awkward talking to him. She didn't want to ruin her friendship with him, which is why she was scared to talk about her feelings for him. She spent the rest of the night doing her rounds and only finding a few students out of bed late. By the time Hermione returned to her dorm room she was exhausted, she fell asleep the minute her head hit the pillow.

On Monday morning Hermione stepped out of the portrait hole to find Draco Malfoy leaning against the other wall. With his arms crossed and eyes closed he looked completely at peace,and very tired. "How long have you been waiting here?" She approached him quietly, just in case he was sleeping.

Draco opened his eyes and gave her a small smile. "Not long. Although I did have an awkward few moments of Gryffindors staring at me." Hermione laughed softly, "Well you didn't have to come wait for me."

Draco shook his head, "It's our first official day as a couple, of course I did."

They walked together in comfortable silence, but it wasn't until they got close to the Great Hall that Draco put his arm around her waist. Hermione only slightly flinched and she could feel Draco chuckle next to her.

When she had agreed to let him put his arm around her, she didn't expect to have it feel so intimate. To be this close to someone was a feeling that Hermione was not prepared for. Which is why she was sure that was the reason for the blush on her cheek. It couldn't possibly be anything else. As they entered the Great Hall and suddenly all eyes were on them, her blush only deepened.

"Hermione, this is for you," he whispered as he pulled out a small folded up piece of parchment. Hermione was so stunned by the use of her first name that she hesitated for a few moments before taking the note.

This was going to take a lot of getting used to.