A/N: The title is from The Thunder Rolls, by Garth Brooks.

Chapter 7: There is a Storm Moving In

Over the next few weeks, Draco and Hermione grew together and nearly became one person. Wherever Draco went Hermione followed, and vise versa. If Draco was eating breakfast, so was Hermione. If Hermione was studying in the library, so was Draco. This being noted, they were rarely found as a couple. The first month of classes were littered with group outings and study sessions. If they were together, without the group, they could be found over textbooks in the back corner of the library or on a short walk around the grounds.

These times were filled with stolen kisses and loving gazes. No one knew about the kisses or the revealed emotions. Draco and Hermione had not discussed telling their friends, but they had not discussed not telling them either. The two continued on happily knowing that, for the time being, their relationship was all their own. Neither had broached the topic of labeling it, too scared to seem anxious. Truth be told, Draco only wanted the title of 'Hermione's Boyfriend' so their classmates would stop flirting with her and watching her ass as she walked away. Hermione wanted the title of 'Draco's Girlfriend' so she could hold his hand in the halls and kiss him goodbye after breakfast.

Harry had known the minute the couple had returned from Hogsmeade that something was different. He talked to Neville about it and together they confirmed their suspicions over the weeks. Draco and Hermione's small 'accidental' touches had not gone unnoticed. Harry had yet to see them openly display their affections, and he was going to wait until they did to congratulate them.

Draco and Hermione had not been on another date since the first weekend. Every weekend following the first had resulted in group outings to the Wizarding village. Draco always paid her bill at the Three Broomsticks. No one thought anything of it since he had done the same several times over the summer. He often led her around with a hand on her back or over her shoulder. If onlookers were careful, they would spy a hushed exchange that ended with a quick kiss on Draco's cheek or Hermione's forehead.

Class drug on - in Draco's opinion. The only part of learning he enjoyed was the study sessions with Hermione in the library. Regardless, Draco was successful in all his classes. He studied little, surpassed most of the class, and annoyed Hermione along the way.

Draco knew Hermione could do the same exact thing. She would never give up studying, because she loved it. The pair was neck and neck in the race to the top of the class. Snape, finally able to praise Hermione after her loss of Gryffindor colors, realized her potential immediately. He constantly asked Hermione to drop a class and take on the TA position for potions. She considered it for a while, but relinquished to keep up with all her classes. Snape never gave up trying, but he did make the class a lot easier for her.

He paired Draco and Hermione for their mid-semester project. Both had originally been very pleased at the assigned partnership. Very quickly they realized working together was harder than it originally seemed.

"What do you mean, you won't do it?" Draco snapped.

Draco and Hermione were slumped over a library table covered with Potions tombs. Hermione's forehead rested on the table in frustration, and Draco was about to pull his hair out. He had never imagined being able to be so incredibly attracted to and aggravated with the same person in the same moment. Hermione's curly hair was pulled back with a Muggle pencil, leaving loose tendrils to fall in her face. She wore absolutely no make up, but her cheeks were flushed with frustration. Her natural appearance stirred Draco's insides. At the same time, she was as stubborn as the Devil himself.

She lifted her head. "Just what I said, Draco. I won't do it." She aggressively slid the parchment he had passed her back to his side of the table.

"Well why the hell not?" Draco glared at her stern, yet gorgeous, brown eyes.

"It's too easy." She sat back and crossed her arms over her chest.

"It'll get us an O, Hermione." Draco mimicked her actions.

"I will not sacrifice the respect of Professor Snape in the process. I want to do this one." She slid her potion suggestion over to him.

"Mandrake Draught? You can't be serious. This has nearly fifty ingredients."

"I already checked with Professor Sprout; the Mandrakes are almost mature. She said we could have enough to brew the potion for the class."

"Great. I'm glad you already made the decision for the project, Hermione."

"Well, I knew you'd just skive off. Hiccup Solution? Really? You made that in year six!"

"And I'm a little sore over it being called 'passable'. Plus – if we pick something easy we won't have to stress so much."

"I will not brew an easy potion because your ego was bruised!" Hermione said.

Draco fumed, muttering, "This has to be some kind of punishment."

"Excuse me?" Hermione's head snapped up.

"Nothing." Draco said. He knew if she had heard him, she would have exploded.

"A punishment?" Well, Hermione heard him.

"If you heard why did you ask?"

Hermione's mouth hung open for a few seconds. She snapped it shut and hissed between gritted teeth. "You've got to be kidding me…you are kidding me, right?"

Draco just stared at her, determined not to show weakness.

"You think working with me is punishment? For what, Draco?"

He honestly did not know what to say, so he dug his hole a little deeper. "Well, all I'm saying, Hermione, is that we shouldn't do something ridiculously difficult because you want to."

"That doesn't answer my question, Draco." She stood up and practically threw her books and notes into her bag. "You are the most stubborn, hard headed, egocentric man I've ever met. How's this for punishment? Do. It. Your. Self." She snapped her bag shut and stormed out of the library, leaving Draco glaring in her wake.

She was going to have to work out a compromise with the stubborn idiot – eventually. At that moment, all she wanted to do was get as far away from him as possible. As Hermione saw it, Draco was extremely lucky he was so good looking or she would have gotten up and left far sooner than she did. She tried desperately to focus on the beautiful blonde locks that fell into his eyes after he ran his fingers through his hair. Her eyes trained on his broad shoulders and Quidditch toned arms. Nevertheless, his snappy rude comment won out in the end. His punishment? She still could not grasp how he managed to come up with that one.

Draco had never infuriated her to this point before. Part of her realized that in any relationship fights were inevitable, but the other part wanted to throttle him. It was one thing to want to go another direction than she did, but it was another to feel as though working with your girl – well – to feel that working with her was punishment.

Still fuming, she stormed into the common room. Harry's initial smile faltered when he saw her glare. "Mione?"

Hermione stopped half way to the girls' hallway and turned to look at him. "Yea?" She snapped.

"Is…uh…is everything ok?"

"If you think Draco turning into an egocentric bastard is ok…then yea. I'm ok."

"Are you two ok?"

"I would think not, considering I'm his punishment." She spat as she made her way to her hall. When she opened the door, she walked directly into Ron. He smiled down at her, having heard every word she said to Harry. "Sorry, Ron." She muttered before trying to pass him.

He put his arms on her shoulders. "Do you need to talk, Hermione?"

She cringed at his touch. "No - I'm going to go to my room."

"Well if you need to talk, you can come see me."

"Uh – thanks, Ron." She muttered before sliding past him.

Ron's mood had changed to the better, indeed. He had been struggling with Hannah Abbot to put a project plan together for potions, and they were getting nowhere. Finally he decided to put the meeting on hold until they had cooled down. He did not expect to hear Hermione profess her distaste for Draco when he left the hallway. It was about time she saw his true colors. Ron had been trying for months to snap Hermione's head away from her 'Save Malfoy' complex. Now was his chance to show her what she was missing. He smiled brightly as he sat down next to Harry.

"What are you smiling about?" Annoyance bled from his words.

"Things are just starting to look up." Ron ran a hand through his hair, completely missing Harry's scowl.

Just then Draco stormed into the common room. "Did you see Hermione?" He snapped at Harry.

Harry pursed his lips. "You should probably leave her alone, Draco. She'll just hex you if you go talk to her right now."

"Yea. Leave her alone." Ron added smugly.

Draco glared at Ron and then turned back to Harry. "Why didn't you tell me how temperamental she was?"

"She usually isn't. But you've been around her more than I have lately." Harry shrugged turning back to his book. "Just let her be until she comes to you."

Draco growled and turned in the direction of his room, muttering. "Damn intelligent witch. She's too smart for her own good. She should take it down a notch." He swung open the door and stomped down the hall.

Ron's smile grew.

~*~*~*~

The next morning Hermione woke up early to avoid Draco. They did not have class together today, as she had Arithmancy in the morning and a free period in the afternoon. She was hoping to stay out of his path, so she could go to him that night and work something out. She felt like she needed an apology first though. She was not a stranger to arguments, but never in her life had someone called her 'a punishment'. She huffed over her muffin at the memory of his words.

The Great Hall was empty, save a few other early risers. There was a time when she had woken up around this time every morning. She poured herself a second cup of coffee, remembering why she had stopped. A yawn escaped as she poured milk into the black liquid. Really? Was a disagreement over potions worth sleep depravation? She opened up her potions text and tried to look for another potion, with medium effort needed, for them to brew for the project. She did not want to fight with Draco; she just was not willing to lose the respect of her professor.

"Ah. Miss. Granger, it's been a while since I saw you at breakfast this early. I'm glad you see you're taking this mid-semester project seriously." Snape interrupted her thoughts.

She smiled at the greasy haired professor. Regardless of the past, he had really changed his attitude toward her this year. "Yes, Professor. Draco and I are still trying to figure out which potion to brew."

"The most difficult part when working with another." He nodded knowingly. "I came across an old friend who works for Rupert's Research." Hermione's eyes lit up. "I was telling him about this remarkable student I have this year. It seems they have a spot opening up after your graduation." He passed her a stack of papers. "This is for you to fill out. The application process requires two vials of a potion you have developed. I do believe you will be the best one for the job. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."

"Wow. Thank you, Professor." Hermione quickly looked through the papers. "I'll get right on it." She smiled at the Potions Master before he nodded and walked away. Still smiling she packed her books into her bag and read through the application as she exited the Great Hall.

Avoiding Draco proved to more effort than Hermione was willing to admit. Regardless of her annoyance with him, she constantly wanted to run up to him and tell him something. Dean Thomas sneezed while sleeping in Arthimancy and his boogies landed on the professor. Even as she was laughing hysterically at Dean, her first thoughts were of the enjoyment Draco would have gotten out of the scene. Later as she walked to the library, Madam Hooch caught Pansy Parkinson snogging a fourth year Ravenclaw in the hallway. Hermione knew Draco would be have loved to see Pansy's horrified face as she received detention and a discussion on pedophilia.

Hermione sighed, glancing up at the large clock in the library. The afternoon classes would be letting out in five minutes, and she wanted to catch Draco on his way out of class. Slowly she packed up her bag and through it over her shoulder. As she wandered down the deserted hall, she silently tried to rehearse what she was going to say to him. She had come to the conclusion that regardless of their fight, she could not go another day without his presence. She cursed herself for trying to really 'punish' him for what he said.

She was four doors down the hall from his Muggle Studies room, when the bell rang to signal the end of session. She paused, waiting to see which direction in which he left the room. Her eyes were trained on the Muggle Studies door, praying for him to walk her direction. He knew she would be in the library at this time, and he usually came to see her. Unfortunately, a tall redhead blocked Hermione's line of sight.

"Oh. Hello, Ron."

"Hey, Hermione. Are you going back to the common room? I'll carry your bag." She frowned at him.

"No, thank you. I can carry it. I'm not going –"

"No, I insist." Ron roughly pulled the bag off of Hermione's shoulders, causing her to fall into him. She tried to stand again, but his arms had circled around her waist. "I'm glad you finally noticed he isn't for you." He whispered thickly in her ear.

Hermione blanched at the clammy feeling of his breath on her skin. "What are you talking about?" She tried to push him away. He kept one arm wrapped around her, and used the other hand to brush the hair out of her eyes.

"You and Malfoy. Clearly we were made for each other, not you and him." In one swift motion, he pushed her against the wall of the hallway. She was dully aware of the stares the students were giving them. She, unfortunately, was extremely aware of Ron's hand, which had maneuvered its way into her robes and up her thigh. His hips sadistically pinned her against the wall and one hand was cupping her cheek as the other stroked her thigh. She visibly gagged as he started to kiss her neck.

"God! Ron! Get off!" Hermione tried to push him off her again.

Draco, who had just exited the classroom, heard her distressed voice. His eyes blazed with worry, trying to locate her. Finally his eyes landed on her half hidden body, struggling to get free from Ron. The worry in his eyes turned to fury as he saw Ron's lips on Hermione's neck and Ron's hand in her robe.

"Oi! Weasley!" He ran over to where Hermione was pinned against the wall. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" He aggressively pushed Ron off Hermione and punched him square in the jaw, causing Ron to fall to the ground.

Nursing his chin, he answered, "Why do you care, Malfoy?"

"A boyfriend usually cares when someone is all over his girlfriend." He sneered at the redhead. Draco turned away from him, leaving him gaping, to tend to Hermione. He brushed his thumb over her cheek, and tried to wipe Ron's spit from her neck. "Are you ok?"

Hermione nodded with tears in her eyes. "Now I am." Draco gave her a small smile and kissed her lips gently.

"Excuse me?" Ron finally snapped out of his daze.

"You heard me, Carrot Top. Stay away from her." He sneered, looking down at Ron who was still sitting on the floor. "You'll like me a lot less if I see you alone with her again." Draco picked up Hermione's discarded book bag, wrapping his arm around her tightly. He pulled her away from the scene, only aware of her sobs.

Harry and Neville, having witnessed the entire escape, scowled at Ron. Harry's eyes shot daggers into Ron's. "You're thick, Ron. I'm backing Malfoy on this – stay away from her." It took everything Harry had not to kick him in his stomach. He found Ginny and the crowd and walked away from his friend. Neville looked down sadly at Ron, unable to put words together. He just shook his head and turned his back on the young man.

Instead of taking Hermione back to the common room, he thought a walk around the grounds would be a good idea. Yes, she had ignored him all day – but he deserved it. If he hadn't had been such a prat, he may have been able to stop Ron sooner. Draco shook his head, knowing there was not anything he could have done. Draco guided Hermione over to a tree and sat down underneath it, pulling her into his arms.

"Thanks, Dray." She whispered, letting her head fall back on his shoulder. He was leaning up against the tree and she was leaning up against him, in between his legs.

"Always, Nee." He kissed her temple. "I don't want him around you."

"Because I'm your girlfriend?" Hermione said in a small voice.

"I know we haven't talked about it. But I'd like you to be – we clearly like each other. Lets tell everyone. I don't want any other guy to be with you, to touch you, to look at you even."

"I think that may be a little unrealistic, Dray. Guys are going to look at me." She shifted a tiny bit so her neck was bent back and she was looking up at him.

"Maybe. But I don't want it to happen."

"So I'm officially your girlfriend then?"

"If you think you can handle it." Draco smirked.

Laughing, Hermione tilted her chin so her lips were closer to his. "Lets see if I can." Draco's arms circled tighter around her tiny waist as his lips captured hers.

A/N: I"m sorry if there are errors. I'm actually looking for a new beta - for this story and another that i'm working on. If anyone is interested - just let me know, and leave me an email address to contact you at. ORRR just email me - Just a simple note: My chapters are usually this length - but it varies. I do have mistakes within grammar, although i try to catch them before i send them out. My biggest mistakes are sometimes jumping to my own conclusions without explaining them or forgetting a previously mentioned fact and either changing it or rementioning it. Hmm also know that none of my author's notes are grammatically correct or edited, so please dont use those as a bases for whether your interested..haha..i'm lazy. Thanks! and i hope you enjoy the new chapter.