Disclaimer- J.K. Rowling owns all of the Harry Potter characters (everyone knows that) lol

Chapter Ten

As Hermione waited for Draco by the lake, she skipped some of the flat rocks. She actually managed to skip one of the rocks so it made four ripples.

Draco came back about fifteen minutes later with the picnic basket and a blanket. When he reached Hermione, he laid the blanket on the ground and put the basket on top of it.

Draco motioned Hermione over and opened the basket. "Turkey or ham sandwich?" Draco asked.

"Surprise me." Hermione answered.

"I don't know," Draco said playfully. "Can you handle two surprises in one day?"

"I better not risk it," Hermione answered, jokingly. "I'll have the turkey."

Draco handed her the sandwich, and began to bite into his own.

"What did you think of the flying?" Draco asked, right when Hermione took a bite.

Hermione tried to quickly swallow the piece of sandwich that she had in her mouth. There was an awkward silence between them as Hermione chewed her food. Draco just laughed as he watched her eat.

"It was surprising." Hermione said, only half joking, after she had finished her bite.

Draco just laughed again. "What do you mean surprising?"

"It wasn't what I thought it would be." Hermione answered. "Just like with you."

"What do you mean?" Draco asked, really not understanding what she was saying.

"When I met you, I thought you would be fun." Hermione said.

"So, I'm not fun?" Draco said, confused.

"Nope," Hermione answered. "You're better than fun."

"Better than fun?" Draco asked. "I didn't know that was possible."

"Well," Hermione began, "Since I thought you were going to be fun, and then you were better than what I thought you would be, you're better than fine."

"Sure." Draco said, as Hermione let out a small laugh.

"It makes sense to me." Hermione said indigently.

"That's all that matters then." Draco said, leaner closer to Hermione for the second time that day.

Hermione leaned in and kissed him. When they were in the middle of their kiss, Hermione's watch struck one o'clock.

Suddenly, thousands of memories flooded back into Hermione's head. She pulled away from Draco and abruptly stood up.

"What the hell do you think you are doing Malfoy!" Hermione said angrily, pushing aside everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours.

"What do you mean, what am I doing." Malfoy shouted back, standing up in the process. "Like I would really kiss a filthy mudblood."

Hermione stared loathsomely at Malfoy and reached into the pocket were she kept her wand. It wasn't there. This morning she hadn't even bothered to put it back into her pocket. Instead, she picked up the picnic basket, and threw it at Malfoy. Then she ran.

Malfoy, who obviously didn't forget his wand, raced after her. He was shouting random hexes, some of which just missed Hermione.

Hermione ran in a zig-zagged line all the way back to the castle, giving Malfoy less of a chance to hit her.

When Hermione reached the front doors, she threw them open, then quickly slammed then behind. Hopefully they would slow Malfoy down.

To Hermione's dismay, there was no one in the hallways. She hoped that someone had left a wand lying around, but Hermione had no such luck. She bolted up the stairs.

As she reached the middle of the steps, Malfoy burst through the front door. Hermione didn't need to turn around to know it was him. She felt a hex burn past her left ear and singe some strands of her hair.

Hermione kept running, trying to remember the quickest way back to Gryffindor tower. No short cuts revealed themselves. If only she had paid more attention to when Harry and Ron talked about the various castle shortcuts. There was no point in dwelling on that now.

Hermione gasped for air as she continued to run. Her lungs were screaming in pain as she picked up her pace, trying to lose Malfoy among the castle corridors. However, he was right behind her. Another hex just barely missed Hermione, and caused a suit of armor to explode. Several portraits shouted out at them.

Hermione ignored the portraits and continued running. She needed to get to the Gryffindor common room, and fast. As Hermione took a right at the next corridor, a hex shot past her and blasted some stones off of the wall. One of them hit her in the head, causing her to bleed.

Malfoy was gaining on Hermione. She tried to go even faster put her legs and her lungs were screaming in protest. As Hermione took the next turn, the portrait of the fat lady came into sight. Hermione bolted up to it, and shouted the password.

The fat lady just looked at Hermione. "Sorry, that's not the password."

Hermione couldn't believe it. She was getting hysterical, as blood continued to drip down her forehead "You've got to let me in!"

Malfoy was now rounding the corner, his wand raised, and a malicious look in his pale blue eyes. He aimed a hex right at Hermione's head but she ducked, and the hex smashed into the fat lady's portrait instead. There was a huge gaping hole in the canvas.

The fat lady screamed bloody murder and fled from the scene. Some of the after shock of the hex hit Hermione, and she fell backwards, her feet flying out in front of her.

Malfoy approached Hermione, his wand still raised. He pointed it straight at her heart.

"I'm gonna die." Hermione thought to herself. She would never see her parents, or Harry and Ron again.

Malfoy's voice interrupted her frantic thoughts, he stepped even closer to her. "I just wanted to see the look on your face."

Before Malfoy could say any curse two voices interrupted him.

"STUPEFY!"

Malfoy fell over, unconscious, his head causing a sharp thunk on the marble tile. Hermione whimpered quietly, and looked up her rescuers.

Harry and Ron were still rooted in the same spot, their wands raised, not really realizing what they had saved Hermione from. They soon realized that Malfoy was going to stay down, so they rushed over to Hermione.

"Are you all right?" Ron asked worriedly.

"I think so," Hermione answered, still not having all of her breath back. "How did you guys know?"

"We were watching the Marauder's Map." Harry answered, slightly waving the map from the grip of his left hand. "We knew you would come around at one o'clock. Right when we saw Malfoy chasing you, we just bolted out of Charms without saying anything to Flitwick"

"You guys shouldn't have come help me." Hermione said. "I was a jerk to you."

Ron helped Hermione onto her feet, but didn't say anything. Neither did Harry. They just didn't know how to respond.

"But thanks anyway," Hermione said. "Even if you didn't think I deserved the help."

"Of course you deserved it." Ron replied. "We weren't just going to stand by and watch Malfoy harm you. We wouldn't have been very good friends for it."

"Well, I wasn't a very good friend to you two." Hermione said, feeling ashamed of herself.

"Don't worry about it," Harry said. "You didn't know what you were saying."

"You guys tried to explain-" Hermione began, but Harry interrupted her.

"Don't worry about it." Harry said. Ron got a handkerchief out of his pocket and started to dab the blood of Hermione's forehead. "We've go to get you to the Hospital Wing."

Hermione nodded in agreement. Harry and Ron each grabbed one of her arms and began to help her along the hallway.

"You guys don't have to help me that much. I won't fall over and die if you let go," Hermione said, laughing. "It's just my head."

Despite this comment, Harry and Ron continued to help her along to the Hospital Wing.

It was at this moment that Hermione wondered what she had ever seen in Malfoy. She almost hated herself for it. As the trio continued down the hallway, Hermione realized something else.

"Hey guys." Hermione said, getting the attention of both of the boys on either side of her.

"Hey what?" Harry and Ron asked.

"I love you two." Hermione said simply.

THE END!

A/N- Well, that is the end of this story. Please tell me what you think by reviewing. I know this isn't how a lot of you wanted the story to end, so I'm sorry. This ending does do J.K. Rowling more justice than having Hermione and Draco stay together. Anyways, thanks for reading my story!

PS- When Hermione said "I love you two," she meant just as friends. I wanted to make that clear among readers.