Hermione blinked in surprise, startled to see Draco so desperately asking her to not hate him, his eyes wide with fear that she would. He looked defeated and her heart immediately dropped from her chest, "Draco why did you hide it from me?"

He raked a hand through his hair, causing her eyes to flick up to watch the movement, "Can you blame me Grang-"

"It's Hermione."

"Fine. 'Mione. Can you blame me? For our entire lives, we've hated each other and then what? Just because Blaise couldn't bring himself to write to you, we're best friends all of a sudden? Friends is one thing but… I didn't think I'd ever…" He trailed off and stood suddenly, taking the letter from the owl, "I guess that's it then."

Hermione jumped to her feet, realizing he thought it was the end of everything, "No, that's not what I meant! I mean- well it was what I meant but I don't mean I want you to leave!"

He stopped, sighed and turned to face her, "What do you mean 'Mione? Congratulations, I'm AB 2.0. You've found me, caught me and fileted me so please, tell me what you want me to do if not leave."

She swallowed nervously, "I… I don't care that you weren't meant to be my pen pal. I don't care that we used to hate each other and… I don't care that you have some misguided notion that nothing can happen with us."

He watched her suspiciously, not saying anything, allowing her to speak. She stuttered slightly, trying to gather her thoughts.

'Honestly, I… I really like both you and AB and mostly because the two are the same. I love the fact that you ran to help me and then pretended that you didn't. I love how you get so protective of me and how it's all thanks to you that Reala hinted that you were him and I love-"

Her words were cut short as he rushed towards her and kissed her, his lips covering her own in a desperate, passionate kiss as he did his best to convey everything he felt for her in one action and fell short even still.

When they finally pulled away Hermione gasped for breath and gaped at him, a smile slowly crossing over both of their faces as they gazed into each other's eyes, overwhelmed by the joy in that moment.

She leaned in to give him one last kiss before pulling away completely, "Happy Birthday Draco…" Then, before she could let herself stay any longer, she turned and walked back up to the castle, leaving him with a grin behind her, following her when his wits had gathered again.

When he caught up he grinned down at her and held her hand in his own, "Thank you Mione, I can't think of anything I would have wanted more…"

She blushed and grinned, embarrassed, "You're just happy that I get to write to Ginny and tell her that we…" She glanced at him uneasily to find him examining his nails innocently, "Are we dating now Draco?"

He cleared his throat uneasily and shrug, "If you want to be."

Hermione bit her lip and then nodded once, "Then I get to write to Ginny about how Draco Malfoy is my boyfriend."

"I prefer the idea of courting you rather than dating…." She looked up in surprise to find Draco blushing again, pointedly avoiding meeting her eyes as another smile swept across her face, "Fine. That Draco Malfoy is courting me."

He smirked, seeming quite pleased with hearing it out loud. He walked her to the common room and then to the steps leading to the girls dorms and kissed her knuckles pleasantly, acting gallant and every bit of the high born man he was, "Good night Ny 'Mione."

She grinned and leaned in to capture his mouth one more time before heading up the steps, "Happy Birthday Draco…."

When she reached the top of the steps she glanced behind her to the common only to find it empty again. She smiled slightly and went into her room where Reala was already almost asleep, sitting up and eyeing her blearily as she walked in, "How'd it go?"

Hermione blushed and flashed the Ravenclaw a smile that made the other sit up ever straighter, wide awake, "No what's that about? What happened?"

Hermione laughed softly, "Nothing, nothing. You were right though, AB is him and it was a date. I…" She laughed again, "I'm being courted by Draco…"

Reala gaped at her, amazed and honestly shocked beyond belief, "that…. That's amazing…. I mean, Hermione, this is huge! Malfoy's don't make promises like those without the intention of following through…."

Hermione blushed and shrugged, "Good night Reala…"

The two girls finally fell asleep only for Hermione to be woken much earlier in the morning than she'd usually like by Reala who had a new morning routine of blasting muggle music as she took a shower. Hermione sighed and sat up, surprised to find that she was still very happy about the still very vivid memory of the night before.

She stood and dressed, hurrying through her preparations as she ran down the steps. Draco stood patiently at the bottom, watching her in amusement, "In a hurry there 'Mione?"

She grinned and flung her arms around his neck, "Was it a dream or was it real?"

After a moment of hesitation, he wrapped his arms around her waist, "It was real…unless you don't want it to have been in which case you should probably tell me now so I can go jump off the astronomy tower…"

She laughed and pulled away, kissing him soundly to silence his rambling, "Merlin Malfoy, do you ever shut up?"

He grinned slowly and nodded, "Yeah. Yeah I can shut up…"

He leaned in to kiss her again, smirking as he did when suddenly the boy's dorm door burst open and out barreled Blaise, her original AB, "Malfoy, you prick! Why the hell were you in such a good damned –"

He came to a stuttering stop, seeing Hermione only a moment away from kissing him and instead of being angry as Hermione had thought he would, he instead grinned, "Finally decided to stop moaning about Granger and finally do something about it eh?"

Draco flushed and pulled away, looking towards Blaise with a sulk, "Stuff it Zabini…."

The dark skinned man merely laughed, "Embarrassed Malfoy? Would have thought you'd be glad to finally have Granger. Does she know yet that the only reason I gave you the position be her pen pal is because I was sick of hearing you moan on and on about her?"

Draco glared at the other, "I was not! I just… didn't like my pen pal as much…."

Hermione watched their interaction with a measure of interest and smiled in spite of herself, "Who was your pen pal then?"

Draco sighed, his shoulders drooping, "No one bad per se just not as interesting as I suspected you would be…"

Hermione smirked and turned to Blaise, "Who was it?"

Blaise smirked, "A rather interesting girl by the name of Jordan Clarkson."

Hermione smirked, "Jordan Clarkson wasn't interesting enough for Draco? What, didn't like the chances she'd rip off his arm while holding her hand?"

Draco groaned from behind them, "Alright! Enough making fun of me!" Hermione turned to see Draco pouting, obviously embarrassed.

"Draco…. What made writing to me different from her?"

He glowered at her, sighing, "You… You always interested me. Your views from the beginning, including the way you referred to yourself as NoBody was different, something I wasn't expecting and something that intrigued me to no end…"

Hermione smiled, amused, "So… when you found out who I was? What made you keep writing then?"

He blushed, his pale cheeks dusted with the rosy shade as he shifted uneasily from foot to foot, "By the time I figured out who you were I had already become quite interested in the girl on the other side of the letters. I was curious about what all there was about you that the press still didn't know."

Blaise smirked, "And he had already fallen for you. The first time he comforted you in here is when he figured out who you were. From then on, if anyone said anything even slightly coarse about you he was defending you."

She blushed, "Really? And the second time, were you really all the way over at the Quidditch Field when I sent the letter?"

He sighed and looked away, his cheeks growing even redder as Blaise grinned evilly, "Jumped off his broom and ran in a full sprint all the way to the common room after telling some of the others to shove off because they were hovering by the door."

She grinned, turning to Draco with a wide smile and shimmering eyes, "Really?"

He sighed again and nodded slowly, uneasy. Blaise grinned, "I'll leave the two of you to it then, shall I?"

Needless to say, there wasn't a soul inn the school who was surprised to see them walk in hand in hand.