Fidelitas

"Where are you going, Malfoy?" a voice drawled from behind him. "Off to play with your little mudblood friend?"

Draco stopped in his tracks, and then turned slowly to see Jamie Collier standing in the doorway. Crabbe and Goyle loomed behind the small boy, much as they had once done for Draco. Seeing the smirking but questioning look on the younger boy's face, Draco's mind raced for an answer.

"Well, Collier, I do have to keep her sweet. Otherwise she might start to doubt me. And if I lose her trust," he spoke as if instructing a child, and tried to keep his voice low. "The plan will fail. So perhaps you could let me get on with it? Or would you like to explain to my father how you messed up everything?"

His condescending tone seemed to have the desired effect, but it was sickening to Draco to see how easily the thought of his father brought fear to the younger boy. Collier paled slightly at the mention of Lucius Malfoy and hurried to assure Draco that he had never meant to cause problems.

"I'm sorry," he concluded. "Don't let me interrupt your plans. Go do what you have to do to keep its trust. I look forward to the day when it is destroyed. To see the look on its face."

"That's enough, Collier! You will have to learn to be subtle if you're going to get anywhere. I'd rather you didn't discuss such things so openly," Draco snarled, not having to feign his anger. "It's risky in a place like this."

With a jerk of his shoulder, Draco indicated other students on benches barely fifteen feet away. Collier's eyes flicked to the students and then to the Head Table, where Dumbledore was conversing with Professor Vector. He looked briefly at Draco and nodded.

"Of course. I won't be so foolish again. I'll see you in the common room."

Draco nodded curtly and walked away quickly. He saw that his little encounter had not gone unnoticed by the trio at the Gryffindor table. Potter and Weasley were both talking fiercely to Hermione. Her face was a picture of frustration and unhappiness. Draco wanted nothing more than to pick up the two boys and knock some sense into them. To treat Hermione that way, it was unacceptable.

As he approached, the two boys fell silent. They glared at him angrily as Draco put one foot up on the bench opposite them. He leaned an elbow on his bent knee and looked directly at Hermione.

"You okay there?" he asked.

"Fine," she answered, looking anything but.

"If you say so," he said.

"Well, she does say so, Malfoy," Weasley snapped.

"So unless you have something useful to tell us, why don't you leave her alone?" Potter asked snarkily.

"I just wanted to know if she wanted to study this afternoon," Draco said, glaring at Potter.

"I'm right here guys," Hermione's voice broke their glaring contest. "Don't talk about me like I'm not."

"Sorry," the three muttered.

"And, yes, I'd like to study with you today, Draco," Hermione continued, her voice high. "But I think that we need to meet to discuss certain events. All of us."

Potter and Weasley didn't respond, so Draco spoke.

"I suppose we do," he said. "Name a time and place."

"I think we'll go out on the grounds, where we can't be found," she said. "That clearing. Dress warm, because I think we'll be there a while. We'll meet at three."

"Fine. At three then."

Draco stood up and nodded to her, but Hermione wasn't meeting his eyes anymore. Turning, he tried to shrug off the hurt, but it stuck with him all the way back to the Slytherin table, and all through the morning.

Angry voices rang through the trees as Draco approached the clearing. If it weren't so important to Hermione, he wouldn't have bothered trying to convince Potter and Weasley of anything. Hearing their voices raised in argument, disturbing the normally peaceful forest, really annoyed him, as did the thought that they were probably upsetting his friend. Suddenly her clear voice cut through the shouting.

"Will you two both shut up! I just got you what you wanted: proof that Malfoy is not duping me - a signed letter from Dumbledore - and our first break in dealing with Collier and Wormtail. Shouldn't you both be thanking me for doing all of this?"

"Look, Hermione," came Potter's voice, full of frustration. "It's not that we don't believe the note from the Headmaster. And it's amazing that you've brought all this information to us. It's the thought of having to work with Malfoy. That's what I'm not ready to accept. Can't he just do what ever it is he plans on doing and we'll do our stuff and not have anything to do with him?"

Draco nodded his agreement irritably. He didn't want to work with Potter any more than Potter seemed to want Draco around. Of course, he did plan on working closely with Hermione. If only to figure out what it was about her that had got under his skin. He shook his head and continued to listen to the argument in the clearing.

"Look Mione." It was Weasley's voice this time, using a truly appalling shortening of Hermione's name. "You've got to understand why we didn't believe you before. All the Slytherins who keep turning up as secret spies. It's a bit unnatural. Especially when they seem to be the people who hate us the most. I mean, Malfoy! Really."

Draco was puzzled by the obnoxious redhead's statement. 'All these Slytherins?' Did that mean that Draco wasn't the first to have decided on a You-Know-Who-free path to glory? It wasn't as if there were many Slytherins involved with He Who Must Not Be Named and few of those knew any useful information, at least as far as Draco knew. That was an unexpected bit of information that he would have to ask Hermione about later, when they were alone.

"Okay guys, I understand your points. I've been dealing with the 'New Malfoy,' as you call him, for a while now. I know many of the reasons why he's changed his mind, and no, I'm not going to tell you them. Draco can tell you if he likes, but it's his choice. And considering how you've acted to him this fall, I'd be surprised if he does tell you."

"What?" This time Weasley sounded surprised. "Now you think we've been out of line. Good grief, Hermione, I swear your brains gone all mushy about this guy. It's just bizarre."

Draco decided that he'd heard enough. He ran his hands through his hair, making sure it was sleek and perfect, then struck out towards the clearing. As he came to the edge he saw the trio standing near the stream. The temptation to sneak up and push Potter or - no, and - Weasley into the water was hard to suppress, but he plastered a pleasant expression on his face as he approached the group.

"Good afternoon everyone," he called out. "And welcome to my humble hide-away."

Potter and Weasley swung around to face him. Draco only had eyes for Hermione, though, as she came towards him with a broad smile on her face.

"Draco, I'm so glad you're here," she said as she drew near. "Perhaps now we can get down to a real discussion, rather than pointless arguing."

Draco could have laughed at the disgruntled looks on the other boys' faces. Instead he looked down at Hermione and returned her smile.

"Right then," he said, matching her business-like tone. "Why don't we all sit down?"

As he lead the way to a cluster of tree stumps and rocks, he couldn't help but wonder if there was any point in having this meeting. It wasn't as if he wanted to spend time with the Wonder Boys and the feeling was clearly mutual. He assumed that Hermione was smart enough to know she would never be able to force reconciliation.

"What I want today is for you three to declare a truce."

Or maybe she wasn't.

"I don't expect you to be best buddies," she continued. "I just want to know that we can all work together on the same project without my always have to break up fights. I'm not saying that you have to even work together. Just that I can work with each of you in turn without constant sniping. I'm sick of being caught in the middle of this and I want it to stop. Otherwise I don't think any of our plans with be very effective."

"Well, I have no problems with those two, as long as they don't come near me," Draco drawled.

"That's exactly what I'm talking about Draco," Hermione snapped, surprising him. "It's the snarky little remarks that have to stop. And the overt hostility, obviously, but the other stuff bothers me more."

"So what you're saying is that we don't have to work with Malfoy," Weasley began. "Which is great. But we have to talk nice about him?"

"No, Ron, you don't have to talk nice. You just have to stop making rude remarks. It's time that you trusted me, and now Dumbledore, and stopped bothering me about working with Draco."

"Fine, I'll do it." Potter spoke for the first time. "No more digs about Malfoy, as long as we don't have to keep having this damn discussion over and over again. Is that enough for you, Hermione?"

Draco looked at him in surprise. He'd never thought that Perfect Potter could be so snippy. It didn't go with his reputation.

"Like you said," the black haired boy continued, "we have much more important things to be dealing with. Does anyone remember Wormtail and Collier? So I agree to your terms, and Ron does to. Don't you Ron?"

Weasley nodded and muttered inaudibly. Potter then glared at Draco.

"And you?"

"Of course, Potter, never said I didn't."

"Then that's settled. Now can we get on with it?"

Hermione nodded, though she looked at each of them suspiciously. Draco dropped the sneering look he'd given Potter and sent her a small smile. She smiled back tentatively, and then pulled a pile of papers from the pocket of her robe.

"So what do we know?" she began. "We know about Collier trying to break into teachers' offices, and we know that he's taking food out to Wormtail. We think that Wormtail's trying to get into the castle. So what are they after?"

"And more importantly," Potter interrupted, "how do we stop them?"

"Sorry to stop everything so soon," said Draco. "But who exactly is Wormtail? You never told me much. He's a Death Eater, right? But he hides in the Dark Forest and, well, what's with his name? Isn't it from that Map you showed me?"

Hermione glanced at her friends, seeming to seek approval. After a moment she began to explain.

"Wormtail was a Death Eater in the first uprising. He was at school with Harry's dad and Snape and... people. His name was Peter Pettigrew, but we call him Wormtail because he's an Animagus who turns into a rat. His name is on the map because he was a friend of the people who made the map. But he betrayed them to his master and..."

Hermione's voice faltered and she reached out to take Potter's hand. Draco didn't know what was happening, but from the concerned look on Hermione's face, it wasn't good. He opened his mouth to ask a question, but Weasley spoke first.

"When You Know Who was defeated, Wormtail turned into a rat and hid. He pretended to be a rat for years, until Si... some of the people he betrayed came back and found him. Then he ran away and found You Know Who. And now he's back outside of Hogwarts, trying to get in. I think he's come to kill Dumbledore."

Draco sat silent. It was a bizarre story, but the matter of fact tones Weasley and Hermione had used - it didn't sound as if they'd just made it all up. Besides, Hermione wouldn't lie to him. She'd said so just the day before. He had to believe her, no matter how unreal her explanations were. But one thing really stuck out.

"So this guy is a rat?"

"Yes," Weasley said, sounding bitter. "And he knows Hogwarts really well, so if he ever gets in he can just sneak around until he gets exactly where he wants to be."

"But I don't remember seeing any rats on the list of registered Animagus...es. Or is it Animagi? Anyway, there weren't any rats."

"He was unregistered, Draco," Hermione said. "There were three students who became Animagi without ever telling anyone, back twenty odd years ago."

"Unregistered. That's cool. I told you about how I..." Draco trailed off realizing that Hermione didn't really think the unregistered Animagus was cool at all.

"Yeah, Draco, I remember talking about Animagi with you. Which is why I thought that you could help me with the next part of our plan."

From the looks on Weasley and Potter's faces, this was news to them as well.

"I want to find a potion, or a charm, or something to stop Wormtail from transforming. I haven't been able to find on yet, but I know that we can come up with something. If Harry and Ron work on keeping him out of the castle until we can come up with it, when we do confront him we'll actually be able to take him to Dumbledore and Minister Fudge and they can do something."

Draco nodded as she outlined her plan. It made sense in an abstract way, but rushing out to confront a Death Eater Animagus seemed a bit, well, insane. He wasn't sure whether to respect Hermione's courage or shake her for even thinking of putting herself in such a dangerous situation.

Potter and Weasley had no such doubts, it seemed. They were congratulating Hermione on her ideas and had begun to discuss plans for keeping watch on Wormtail. Potter even started to speculate on how the final confrontation with the Animagus should take place. Planning an encounter that could probably get them all killed, Draco thought with a snort. Boy Wonder was a madman.

After listening to the three prattle on for a while, he decided to interrupt.

"If you don't mind, would someone explain where I fit into this little death wish of yours?"

Hermione looked up from the calendar she was scribbling on.

"Well, I need help with the research, obviously. It's all stuff you said you were interested in, so I thought we'd just work on it after we do our homework. And we were also hoping you could keep an eye on Collier for every now and then. The late nights are driving us all mental."

"Sure I'll help with the research," he agreed. "But I don't know how much I can get from Collier. He hasn't mentioned this to me, which means he probably never will."

"Secretive bunch, aren't you? Don't even trust each other," Weasley sneered.

"Ron!" Hermione snapped, cutting of Draco's response. "That's exactly what I was talking about earlier. Draco is not one of them, and he doesn't deserve to be talked to like that."

"Sorry," he muttered.

Draco flashed a condescending smile at the other boy. It was fun watching the redhead blush hideously; even more enjoyable was having Hermione defend him.

"Anyway, Draco," Hermione continued, "I don't think we need you get information from Collier, since we'll find everything out when we catch Wormtail. What we need is someone in the Slytherin dungeons who can keep an eye on him."

"What would be even better would be if you could prevent him from getting to Wormtail," Potter broke in. "But not right away. We don't want the little rat getting desperate before we're ready to fight him."

"I'll do what I can," Draco agreed.

The four talked through their plans for a little while longer, but soon the sun fell behind the trees. Shivering with cold, they abandoned the clearing and made their separate ways to the castle. Draco watched as Hermione hurried ahead with her friends, smiling as she tried to keep up with their longer strides. Though he doubted Weasley or Potter could stand him any more than he could them, he was glad to have reached some sort of agreement with them. He had been granted uninterrupted time with Hermione. And he intended to enjoy it as much as possible.

Three weeks after the strategy meeting in the woods Hermione was starting to wonder if she might have made a terrible mistake. She and Draco had been working together nearly every evening since that day, but had come no closer to solving the problem of stopping Animagus transformation. Collier hadn't sneaked out his dormitory for over a week; and her friendships with Harry, Ron, and Draco had become so confused that she had to suppress the urge to hit all of them. Hard.

It was the third Sunday in November, and snow had begun to fall lightly. Hermione was curled up in a windowsill in the Gryffindor common room, staring blindly at a book as she tried to make sense of her irritation with her three friends. Harry and Ron had been trying very hard to live up to their promises and rarely made rude remarks about Draco. Draco was unfailing polite about the other boys. It should have been working out well. But somehow, Hermione still felt awkward when she talked about her work with Draco, feeling that Ron and Harry were still doubting him, or possibly her, in some way. As for Draco...

Hermione groaned. She turned the page in her book, hoping that people wouldn't interrupt her if they thought she was reading. Draco. Ever since the night that he had comforted her he had been very kind and considerate. He always asked her about her day and told her funny stories about stupid things that Goyle and Crabbe had said or done. But he never came within a few feet of her, avoiding close contact by sitting across the table, or putting their books between them when they sat on the floor. For reasons Hermione couldn't understand, this bothered her to no end. Also, it made her feel incredibly awkward around him, never knowing if he were going to pull away in disgust if she so much as leaned to read over his shoulder.

The worst part, though, was how memories of that night he had held her kept coming to her at the most bizarre times. She could be mindlessly brushing her hair and suddenly her brain would flash to the feeling of Draco brushing curls from her face. Sitting in class, she would suddenly lose track of the lesson because she would start wondering what it would have been like if Draco had kissed her somewhere other than her forehead. On the temple. On the cheek. If he had put his lips on hers...

It was beyond frustrating, this tendency towards irrational thoughts. Hermione knew that she was more mature than the other girls in her year. Having had her birthday in September, she had turned sixteen already and prided herself on having never bought into the teenage ditziness that seemed to afflict most of the girls around her. Or at least, she had avoided it until this probably insignificant incident had turned her into a character from one of her mother's romance novels.

"You're going to burn a hole through that book if you don't turn the page."

Hermione looked up into the amused eyes of her friend Ginny.

"You've been on that page for five minutes and forty seconds. I've been timing you."

The redhead held up a watch in demonstration.

"Just thinking," Hermione said.

"Thinking pretty hard from the looks of it," Ginny said, leaning on the wall. "And not the happiest of thoughts, either. Anything you want to talk about?"

"Not really," Hermione replied. "Just some stuff I have to sort out."

"And that stuff wouldn't be blond and tall and Slytherin, would it?" Ginny asked innocently.

Hermione stared blankly at the younger girl for a moment. Apparently that gave her away, because Ginny began to grin.

"I knew it!" she crowed.

"Knew what?" Hermione asked.

"You have a thing for Draco! This is great!"

"I do not have 'a thing' for Draco, Ginny, don't be silly."

"Oh, really. But he is why you've spent the last twenty minutes on the same three pages of that book, right?"

"Well, yes," Hermione admitted. "But only in that being friends with him involves changing all sorts of things I've always assumed."

"Like that you'd never touch him without a twenty foot pole?"

"Yeah, that," Hermione grinned to herself, "and the fact that, while he can be annoying and superior, he's got a wicked, dark sense of humour and can be kind of nice sometimes."

"And can he kiss?"

Hermione gaped at her friend. Ginny opened her eyes wide, trying to look innocent.

"Just asking. Because, y'know, that's a very important thing to find out."

"Ginny! Don't be ridiculous. And I don't know."

"Yet."

"You're being really annoying," Hermione snapped, lifting her book.

"Yeah, you pretend to read. I can tell you find this subject so boring. Or rather, I'd believe that if you weren't blushing bright red."

There was no way to respond to that. Hermione closed her book with a snap and swung her legs down from the window ledge.

"I'm not going to talk about this with you. You're worse than Lavender and Parvati these days."

"Just inspired by all the lovely inter-house romance going on. Can I help it if I want all my friends to have what Harry and I have?"

"Oh, no. Please don't be one of those people who has to pair off everyone just because they're part of a couple."

"Hey, it's not like I have to do anything," Ginny said defensively. "There are couples springing up everywhere. And if all of my idiot brothers can manage to get girls, I don't see why you're still single."

"I think that was supposed to be a compliment," Hermione said, amused in spite of her irritation, "so I'll take it as such. But let's drop the subject, all right? I'm not interested in becoming anyone's girlfriend right now. There are more important matters to be dealt with."

She slid down from the window seat and stuffed her book in her bag. Pulling straps over her shoulders, she turned towards the common room door.

"And right now I have to go finish a Charms essay and my Arithmancy. I'll see you later, Ginny."

The library was quiet and musty, and the corner where Hermione and Draco had spread out their work was only faintly lit by the late afternoon sunlight that had struggled its way through the small window above their table. Despite being dim, though, the area was cozy and perfect for their needs. The pair had spent nearly every evening of the four weeks since Hallowe'en studying and researching in this hidden corner.

Draco had a towering stack of advanced Potions books in front of him, and he was leafing through them slowly, hoping something might catch his eye. Hermione was equally occupied with the complex Charms texts she had chosen though look through. Every now and then, one of them would jot down a quick note, or place a page marker in a book. A companionable silence lay between them.

Biting back a groan, Draco closed the book he had been working with and stretched his neck and shoulders. He had been looking at recipes for hours, every possible spell-stopping, paralyzing, and charm-reversing potion he could find. There were more brews that he had ever imagined, and some of them were quite revolting. Worse lay ahead, though, he thought, eying the stack of books he had borrowed from the restricted section. Looking at the pile of stained, battered, and in several cases locked or buckled shut volumes, Draco couldn't help but smile in remembrance at his encounter with Snape when he had asked for access to these books.

Using their most recent Potions assignment as an excuse, Draco had presented a list of books that had caused the Professor to choke on his tea. When Snape had questioned him on his need for the books, Draco had had excuses for each in turn. The utter frustration of the Potions Master was one of the few high points of the past month. Draco had to wonder how Hermione had managed to convince Professor Flitwick to let her use the rather frightening set of texts she was currently flipping through. Many of the books they were using involved advanced Dark Arts, spells that were too nasty to read about in depth. It was probably a topic of some discussion in the staff room, what he and Hermione were doing.

"Oh!" Hermione's voice broke into Draco's thoughts. "Oh wow, come look at this."

Draco looked across the table at Hermione. She had a volume of Charms for Overly Controlling Perfectionists open in front of her and was flipping through another book in the series, looking for something.

"Really, come see this." She looked up at Draco. "I think I might be onto something."

Draco reluctantly got up and walked around the table. He stopped beside her chair and leaned down to see what she was pointing at. The fresh, clean smell of her hair wafted up to her. All of the awkward feelings he had whenever he was too close to Hermione came flooding through him. He was about to pull away, but then the spell she was pointing at caught his attention.

"See," her voice came softly in his ear. "And what if we could combine it with this reversal charm here? I think that it would be exactly what we need to keep the horrid little rat from transforming."

Draco stared blankly at the books for a few moments. He was caught up in the sensation of being so near to Hermione. All it would take would be for him to turn his head a little to the right. Her warm cheek would be there to kiss. And if she turned her head at the same time... Draco blinked to clear his mind of the visions he had be conjuring, the thoughts of kissing Hermione that had been in his head for four incredibly long weeks. He turned his attention to the charm that she was pointing at and read.

"That's brilliant, Hermione!" he said, once he had read the passage twice. "Perhaps if two of us cast from either side of him, one right after the other. Then all we'd need is something to hold him immobilized, and we'd be set."

"Exactly. Oh, this is great. Finally a breakthrough."

Hermione turned her head to look up at Draco, a huge smile on her face. He looked down into her eyes and felt his breath catch.

The warmth and happiness in her face reached deep inside him and he was helpless to do anything but smile back. He felt disconnected, lost, as strange feelings spread through his chest, sending warm tingles down through his body. Slowly he leaned closer to Hermione. Her eyes widened and her lips parted. Draco's gaze dropped to those rosy lips and he leaned closer still.

"Hey Hermione? Malfoy? You two back there?"

Ron's voice cut through Hermione's dreamy thoughts. She jumped in surprise; at the same time, Draco took a sudden step backwards and nearly went tumbling over a chair. Ron's face came into view from around a bookshelf. He was grinning, but his expression changed to confusion as he looked from Hermione's flushed face to Draco's irritable one.

"What's going on?" he asked suspiciously.

"Nothing. Well, not really nothing," Draco admitted. Hermione's heart nearly skipped a beat. "Hermione had just made an amazing discovery when you surprised us. That's all."

"Oh. All right." Ron kept staring at Hermione, so she nodded in agreement. "Well, I brought the map. It's your night on Collier Watch, Malfoy. He's with Filch right now - probably getting detention. Wouldn't it be great if he were expelled?"

"The school would be better off without him," Draco agreed. "I'll head towards Filch's office and keep an eye on the little snot from there. I'll see you tomorrow Hermione?"

Hermione nodded, not meeting his eyes. She watched as Draco stacked his books and took them to be returned to Madame Pince. Sorting through her own stack of volumes, she prepared to stop work for the evening.

"What was going on with you and Malfoy, Hermione?" Ron asked as he helped her carry her books to the librarian's counter.

"Can't you guys try calling him by his name?" Hermione snapped. "He's working with us now, you could at least try using his name."

"What? C'mon Hermione, it's Malfoy. It'd be too weird to use his first name. His incredibly weird first name," Ron said. "Anyway, I've called him Malfoy for the last four years. I don't think I can change habits that quickly."

"Oh really," Hermione said. "I'd have to disagree, what with you managing to go from hating Slytherins to dating Slytherins in under three months."

"Regina's different. She's special. And nothing like Malfoy. Besides, I'm not dating Malfoy. And neither are you, right?" Ron stared at her intently. "Right?"

"Right, Ron," Hermione sighed. "There's nothing going on between Draco and I. Don't you worry. Draco and I are nothing more than friends."

Ron's worried expression cleared and he beamed down at Hermione. Taking her satchel from her, he led her out of the library.

"Well, that's good to hear. You had me a little worried back there at your study table. If it had been anyone else, I would have figured I'd walked in at a really bad time. But you and Malfoy? That would be ridiculous."

Hermione grinned weakly at her friend and let him chatter at her all the way back to the common room. Ridiculous indeed, to have hoped for even a moment that Draco might have been about to kiss her.

"I never thought I'd say this, but I wish Collier would do something. Sneak into the kitchens, raid Snape's office, anything," Draco complained. "Otherwise I'm afraid I might turn into an icicle."

Stamping his feet and blowing warm breath on his hands, the blond boy miserably stared at the Marauder's Map. Hermione would have been amused by his statement, and the fact that the tip of his nose had turned a rosy pink, if she hadn't been just as cold as he was.

"I wish we had some Butterbeer. Or hot mulled cider. Mmm... How about some toasted pumpkin muffins with warm honey?"

"All right Draco, stop that," Hermione ordered. "That's cruel and unusual and you know it. Don't do it, or if you are going to talk about things like that, let's see some follow through. We don't both need to watch the map. One of us could go raid the kitchens."

Draco looked down at her ruefully.

"I suppose that by one of us you mean me." It wasn't really a question.

"Well, since you brought it up..." Hermione smiled at him. "Just think of the warm fires in the kitchen. And hot cider..."

"Fine," he huffed. "I'll be quick. If that little prat tries anything, let me know immediately. I don't want you rushing into any situation alone."

"I think I can take care of myself, Draco," Hermione pointed out.

"But you don't have to," he said. "And I don't want to see you putting yourself in danger. I worry."

Hermione felt her insides melt as Draco flashed her a quick smile and turned to leave. He worried. About her being safe. It was the most personal thing he had said to her in weeks, and the sweetest. She unfolded the map that he had handed her and quickly located the dot labeled Draco Malfoy. He had made it into the kitchens and was probably charming a lucky house elf into packing him a feast. It was bizarre, but somehow his conviction that he deserved the best tended to result in the best being given to him. Hermione couldn't quite understand it but it was true that when Draco pursued something with his single-minded determination, he almost always got what he wanted.

She turned her attention to a different part of the map and found the Collier dot. It was in the same place it had been for over an hour, the Slytherin boys' dormitory. From what Draco had overheard the previous week, they had sorted out that Filch had caught the second year trying to open one of the secret tunnels that the caretaker had sealed off. While he hadn't been expelled, Collier was in a severe form of detention, only allowed out the Slytherin dungeons for classes and meals. Of course, if the assumption that he had an invisibility cloak was true, then it didn't matter that the prefects weren't supposed to let him leave the dungeons; he could sneak in and out easily.

"Here we go!" Draco's voice was triumphant. "Not only do I have warm cider and toasted muffins, I also managed to snag us some blankets to keep the chill of the floor away."

Putting the picnic basket he was carrying down, Draco spread a thick wool blanket on the floor by Hermione's feet. He then arranged another blanket against the wall and knelt to unpack the basket. Looking up at Hermione, he grinned.

"Care to join me?" he asked. "It's more comfortable that standing up."

Hermione pushed her school bag close to the blankets and sat down gingerly. The wool was warm and surprisingly soft, considering it was spread over cold stone. Tucking her legs under her, Hermione turned to face Draco.

"Thanks, this is great."

"Least I could do, right? Now we can sit in comfort." Draco settled himself on the floor and reached for the second blanket. "Here, we'll wrap this around out shoulders. A little extra warmth."

Hermione snuggled into the blanket, and then took the mug of cider that Draco had offered. She leaned back against the wall and sipped at the warm drink. Draco's shoulder touched hers as he too leaned back. They sat in silence for a few minutes as the heat of the drink warmed them.

"Well, I suppose that I should get out some books. If we're going to use studying as an excuse, we really should have something to study."

"Oh I suppose," Draco grumbled, but he put down his goblet. "It's not like anyone could believe that we were have a picnic and a cuddle."

Hermione's hand froze, a sliver of hurt cutting through her. Even Draco thought the idea of them as a couple was ridiculous. She really was going to have to get over this silly crush. Shaking her head to clear it, she pulled out her Arithmancy book and opened it to where she had finished reading the night before.

For a while, the pair studied in silence. Hermione nibbled on a muffin briefly, but discovered she wasn't hungry after all. Draco refilled their goblets with cider at one point and she thanked him, but he returned to his studying and map watching without further conversation. Hermione had to wonder if she was the only one feeling the awkwardness between them, the strange pull.

A cold breeze swept down the corridor. Hermione shivered and tugged the blanket tighter around her shoulders. The action pulled her closer to Draco. She felt his body freeze, and looked up at him questioningly. He was staring down at her intently. Silvery-gray eyes caught and held her gaze, and she felt herself leaning closer.

Draco blinked slowly, once, twice; then his gaze dropped to her lips. Hermione watched as his eyes drifted closed and he lowered his head to hers. As his lips gently touched hers, she closed her eyes and felt herself melt into his caress.

Tentatively, his lips moved against hers. One of Draco's hands came up to caress her cheek, cradling her face in his palm. Hermione slid her free hand along his arm until she could tangle her fingers in the hair lying against his neck. With a soft moan, Draco pulled away from her. Hermione dropped her hand as though burned and stared at her lap.

"I'm sorry Hermione," he muttered eventually. "I shouldn't have done that."

"S'all right," she said softly. "No big deal."

Draco snorted then, causing her to look up.

"No big deal?" he said irritably. "No big deal? It's all I'm able to think of when I'm around you. It's the only thing I've been thinking about for the last five weeks, and it's no big deal?

"D'you know how hard it's been for me to sit and chat with you, to work beside you day after day, to smell how good you smell, to see you all the time... to do all that and not kiss you? I've been going mad."

Hermione stared up at him. It was unreal, to think that he felt that way.

"I don't know what I should say."

"I don't either," he said with a small laugh. "I just... I mean, you don't mind?..."

"Don't mind? I've been hoping you would do that for weeks."

It was Draco's turn to look amazed.

"You have?" he asked. "Really?"

"I have, really." Hermione smiled at him.

"Oh good."

Draco pushed the books from their laps and wrapped both arms around Hermione's shoulders. Burying his face in her hair, he spoke.

"I'm so glad you said that. I don't know what I would have done if you'd turned me down. That's why I've waited so long. But tonight I just had to get it over with."

"Get it over...?" Hermione pulled back against his arms, glaring up at Draco.

"Not in a bad way," he soothed. "I mean I just had to do something and take the risk and see what would happen."

"All right," she said, snuggling back into his chest. "For a moment there you made it sound like taking horrible medicine or pulling off a bandage. Not exactly romantic."

"I'm sorry for that. But when you have to spend five weeks trying to build up courage, it does feel a bit like leaping of a bridge with a broom you aren't sure can fly. But now I'm safe."

He smiled down at her and lifted a hand to brush her hair away from her face. Leaning down, he kissed her again. This time, Hermione's arms slid around Draco's back almost immediately. As he cradled her head in his hands, she caressed his back and slid a hand into his silky hair.

Draco sighed against her lips and kissed her more deeply, his lips nipping and sucking at hers. Hermione returned the kiss with all the passion she had. His hand slid down from her hair and pulled her more tightly to him. Hermione gasped at how good he felt, and Draco took that moment to lick his tongue gently over her bottom lip. The kiss continued, as each tasted the other more and more deeply.

After endless minutes, Hermione pulled slightly against Draco's arms. He resisted for a moment, but then let her move away and settle herself so that her head was lying on his shoulder. One of his arms was wrapped around her shoulders, while the other tangled with her arm, their hands entwined over Draco's heart. Hermione sighed and snuggled tightly against him.

Draco leaned contentedly against the dungeon wall. He had finally come up with the courage to kiss Hermione, and it had been even more amazing than he could have dreamed. This moment, with her in his arms, her breath warm against his neck, was as close to happiness as he had felt for many months. The rest of the world could disappear and he wouldn't care.

Draco stiffened. Hermione's head lifted from his shoulder as she looked at him with concern. Carefully, he leaned forward, trying not to let go of the girl in his arms. When he let go of her hand to reach for the Marauder's Map, though, she shifted against him, pulling her arm from behind his back.

"Is everything okay?" she asked nervously, trying to read the map.

"I hope so," he answered. "Just a moment."

"He's not in his bedroom!"

"No, I know... where does he usually go?" Draco scanned the map frantically.

"Kitchens? Nope," Hermione answered her own question. "How about Snape's?"

"No, he's nowhere near the main classrooms. Where could he have gone?"

They stared intently at the map. All of the sudden, Draco spotted the Collier dot. He looked closely at the area where it was sitting, and then laughed.

"Little twerp! There he is," he snorted, pointed to the map. "He's snuck into the Prefect's bathroom."

"Urg!" Hermione groaned. "I'm never using that tub again. Well, actually, I rarely use that bathroom anyway. Ever since I heard that Moaning Myrtle goes in there sometimes... I prefer the one on the fourth floor."

"Really?" Draco leered at her teasingly. "I'll keep that in mind."

Hermione shoved him gently. "Rude. Well, at least we've found him. Shall I return these things to the kitchen? You can go keep an eye on Collier while I do that."

"If I do, will I get a kiss?"

"I suppose I could be persuaded..."

Hermione's sly smile set off fireworks in Draco's chest. He collected his books and stood up. Hermione stood also and handed him the map and the flask of cider.

"Here. Keep warm until I get there. I'll see you in a few minutes."

She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him quickly on the cheek. Before he could give in to the desire to drop everything and pull her into his arms, Draco turned and headed for the stairs.