From Dreams to Reality

Chapter 13______________________________________________________________

Dumbledore appeared at his office door with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eyes. He invited them inside and they each took a seat in front of the large desk. Draco, who had never been in the magnificent office before, was looking around frantically at everything from the Sorting Hat sitting behind Dumbledore's desk to Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix, who sat on his golden perch, sleeping.

"What is that I can do for you?" Dumbledore asked them kindly.

"Well, you see sir, Draco wanted to give you the full story on what happened on the night his father tried to kill him. As well as something his father has said that's more... recent," Hermione said, looking at Draco.

Dumbledore also turned his gaze so it rested on Draco, who moved uncomfortably, before launching into his story. He told him everything that he could remember his father saying, about the way his father kept tightening his grip on his wand right from the beginning, about Hermione saving him just in time. He even told Dumbledore about what was going on with him and Hermione to give him a better idea of the situation.

"... and then the other night, he came and saw me in the hospital wing," Draco said. "He said that he'd seen exactly what Hermione and I were up to and then he - he threatened that if he found out about anything more happening between us from then on, he'd - he'd kill us both."

A small silence followed this, as Dumbledore gazed at them with a look of understanding. "I," the Headmaster said at last, "will do what I can with my connections with the Ministry of Magic and I will be sure to keep an eye on the both of you - organise some sort of protection to follow you at all times. Lucius Malfoy is a powerful wizard ... and a Death Eater. The fact that he is the father of a student here makes it harder for me to be able to restrict him from entering this castle, but he is a danger to all those here - from myself to the House-elves. It is my belief that he isn't only after you two; he is after Harry as well. Voldemort may have sent him..."

Draco and Hermione both nodded. Dumbledore was most likely right, as he always was.

"Is there anything more?" Dumbledore asked, gazing gravely at them other his half-moon spectacles. Both Draco and Hermione shook their heads and stood to leave. "I will be sure to follow up on what I said as soon as possible. In fact, I may write a letter to the Ministry right now."

He smiled warmly as Draco and Hermione nodded before leaving and heading back down the revolving spiral staircase, wanting to head down to dinner.

> * <

Draco pushed open the doors of the library and headed to the back of the large room, where he found Hermione engrossed in a thick book that sat in front of her. She looked up when he took the seat beside her and smiled happily.

"I think I've found the perfect book to work from!" she said cheerfully. Draco smirked ever so slightly at her shown excitement, before looking down at the book that sat in front of her. "It's called Kissing Potions and from what I've read from it so far, I think it'll have all the information we're after. Snape said last lesson that we also need to find and supply our own recipe for the Potion, as he won't supply it for us, and this book has the perfect one for it. A lot of the other ones I found used some substitute ingredients rather than the original ones. This one, on the other hand, has both the original and the substitutes listed!"

Hermione took a deep breath as she finished and looked at Draco to see no more than a dumbstruck expression on his face. "I've also been thinking about the way we're going to present the project and I think a poster of some sort or another would be both the best and easiest. That is of course if you wish to present it that way. Any way is fine with me, really, I -"

"A poster is fine, Hermione," Draco cut in. He looked at her carefully, an odd expression on his pointed face. "When it comes to school, you are a lot more organised and enthusiastic than I thought." Hermione's smile faltered and Draco smiled. "That's not a bad thing, though," he assured. Hermione's smile faltered even more.

"You think I'm too - too organised?" Hermione asked, feeling her heart fall slightly.

"No, I just..." Draco started, but he didn't know what to say. "You're ... you're just different from other people I know. You're very ... enthusiastic about your schoolwork and I don't mean that as a bad thing. I just never expected you to be such a ... You're so ambitious."

"Yes, well, that's just the way I am," Hermione said with a shrug. She had taken his comments as something of an insult. "I'm Head Girl for Merlin's sake, I've been like this all my life and for the time you've known me you've seen that. A lot of my friends' say that I've lightened up a bit, but now you're basically saying that I haven't changed one bit! Is -"

Draco lent forward and rested his lips on hers in a gentle kiss in an attempt to quiet her. "As I said, you being the way you are is not a bad thing. I like the way you are and I know I haven't shown it over the years, with me insulting you etc., but I always found your enthusiasm and brains as something I admired. You have lightened up, yes, but that still doesn't change the way I see you."

Hermione stared at him, not knowing exactly how to take this news. Ever since she had met him, he had insulted her for her "enthusiasm and brains" and yet, now he's telling her that he had always admired that fact about her? It didn't make much sense.

"I like the way you are," Draco whispered, leaning forward and resting his lips on hers again, this time kissing her deeper. It was only a short kiss, though, before he pulled away and looked around. "I better be going," he said, grabbing his bag from the floor. "Crabbe and Goyle want me back in the common room as soon as possible to help them with our Transfiguration homework." He stood and looked down at her. "I'll meet you in here tomorrow at the same time, then?"

"Yes, I guess so," Hermione replied. "Remember to bring parchment and different coloured ink." Draco nodded, bent down to kiss her cheek and left the library silently, leaving Hermione alone in there with Madam Pomfrey.

*

Come dinnertime, Hermione was still in the library, her quill scrawling information on the Single Kiss Potion down on some parchment, with Kissing Potions resting on the table in front of her. She didn't hear the library doors open, as Harry stepped inside.

Harry's eyes scanned the virtually empty library, spotting Hermione at the back, deeply engrossed in her work. He headed over to her and took the seat Draco had previously left some three hours ago.

"I've been looking for you," he said, making her jump. Even though he had sat down next to her, she hadn't noticed him. "It was sort of stupid of me not to look here first. I looked everywhere from the Astronomy Tower to the dungeons. I was beginning to think that maybe Malfoy had kidnapped you."

Hermione smiled at him. "Draco wouldn't kidnap me ... Or at least not without leaving some sort of sign that he had," she said.

Harry looked at her face - she looked so content. "I wasn't talking about that Malfoy, Hermione," he said. "Dumbledore told me in a resent meeting I had with him about Lucius Malfoy's threats and stuff. I sort of feel sorry for Malfoy now - having a father that treats you like absolutely nothing. Threatening to kill you and the person you love most."

"Draco doesn't love me, Harry," Hermione said, in a voice that said that she thought it was clearly obvious.

"I think he might be, Hermione, or at least close to being," Harry said with a sideways glance at her. "It's not hard to fall in love with you."

Hermione stared at him. Did he just as-good-as say that he loved her? "Harry, I-I'm pretty sure that Draco doesn't love me," she said.

Harry gave her a small smile and raised his hand so it rested on her cheek and softly stroked it with his thumb. "You've always been oblivious to things that involve people having strong feelings for you, Hermione," he said. "First it was Ron, and then me, and now ... Malfoy."

Hermione gave him a light slap on the shoulder. "That's not true!" she said playfully. "I was aware of the feelings Ron held for me ... even before he did!"

Harry slowly nodded. It was true. Ron had been completely oblivious about his feelings for Hermione and didn't notice them until she made him - by screaming shrilly about his evident jealousy. Harry smiled as he remembered it.

"That makes no difference," he said back eventually, after he'd shifted out of his thoughts of Hermione yelling at Ron. "You could hardly tell that I liked you as much as I do... Then again, Malfoy coming into the scene may have had an effect on that..." A look of inner pain came over his face and he looked away from her, as if it hurt him to look at her any longer. "I just wish you'd finally realise who you liked more, instead of playing this little game between us."

Hermione let out a small cry in shock. "Game? I don't see this as a game!" Hermione claimed. "I just can't work out who I like more. My mind keeps switching from one to the other and I honestly can't help the fact that I like both of you."

Harry sighed agitatedly. "So you keep saying," he said. "But Hermione, this is Malfoy we're talking about! I know you think he's changed a lot since what happened over the summer, but please, the guy was so - so nasty to you the whole time before that! Can you honestly put all that behind you and suddenly have a relationship with him?"

Hermione's eyes filled with tears. She knew he was right, but right now, she didn't care. She liked Draco - there was no doubt about it. The fact that he had been so nasty for all the years before now didn't really matter for her anymore. She knew only one Draco now and that was the one who showed he cared, the one that she could talk to, and the one she was falling in love with.

But still, Harry had all those qualities as well and she felt the same way towards him. She didn't want to have to choose between them, but she knew she had to. She was playing a game and one of them had to win. Draco, the boy who used to live to destroy her, or Harry, her best friend and the person she had the most trust in?

Old images flashed before her eyes as her thoughts fought to find some sort of answer. She saw images of her and Harry, talking and being no more than friends; and Draco, as they argued and then, in more resent times, kissed with a passion Hermione was only familiar with when it came to him. Her mind filled with thoughts and as dizziness overwhelmed her, she was glad to be sitting down.

Hermione lay sprawled on a bed she slowly recognised as Draco's, wearing only a pale blue skirt and lacy white bra. Draco soon came into the scene, looking down at Hermione's beautiful, yet petite body with both nervousness and want as he unbuttoned his shirt and discarded it to the ground. He carefully situated his body next to hers and placed a soft kiss on her already swollen lips.

Hermione closed her eyes as her sight was filled with no more than a bright white light, as though she was looking straight at the sun. She could distantly hear Harry speaking, but his words were indistinguishable. Then the image of Draco fully engulfed her senses and it didn't take her long to truly understand. Her mind slowly became clearer, the dizziness ceased and she opened her eyes to see Harry's worried face hovering over her. She was lying flat on her back on the floor, and yet, she couldn't remember how she'd gotten there.

"Draco," she murmured, ignoring Harry as he placed a hand against her sweaty forehead. She watched with a solemn expression on her face as Harry looked into her eyes with an odd expression on his face.

"Wh-What?" Harry said, his voice choked.

"I know this sounds strange, Harry," Hermione said, carefully sitting up, "but the other day, when we were kissing, after I'd been trying to decide between you and Draco, I had a vision about Draco and I. At the time, I didn't see much of it. Sure, I thought it was odd, with me kissing you at the time, not Draco and I did wonder about it, but I didn't quite understand it truly until now. As I sat there, with you, trying to work out whom I liked more, who I would be best with, I had that exact same vision and I realised." She paused and gave him a false, apologetic smile as he sat there, looking his hurt self. "I realised that the vision was trying to tell me something. I think it was trying to tell me that Draco's the one I should be with - not you."

Harry looked down at his hands, trembling in his lap. "Are you sure, Hermione?" he asked quietly.

Hermione bit her lip for a moment before answering. "I think so," she replied. "The timing of this vision occurs at the same time I wonder about who to choose and I don't think it's just a coincidence. It's odd, I know, but that's what I believe." She looked at Harry with an expression full of nothing more than apology. "I'm really sorry, Harry."

Harry looked away entirely and Hermione decided it would be best not to say anything more. She knew she had broken his heart and it hurt herself to believe it. With one last look at him, she stood up, packed up her things and made her way out of the library, wondering if what she'd just done had been for the best...

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Author Notes: Ahhhh... another chapter done! I hope you liked it!!!

Big thanks to Samantha and stephanie for beta-ing for me!!! I highly appreciate it!!! I'd also like to thank Orla-Destiny for putting up the review forums for me! Read her fic When Enemies Interact (Brilliant read and the story that made me start cruisin' the D/Hr ship [S.S. Leather and Libraries!]) if you haven't already!!!

Thanks for reading and pleas review!!!

> Fiery Punk Princess <