Draco was reading when she walked into their Dorm room. He glanced at her and then back at his book, his face indifferent and emotionless. Hermione winced, oh, he was angry with her alright. Maybe running away after kissing him, hadn't been the best idea she'd ever had.

"What are you doing here, Granger?"

"Um...I live here." She answered, feeling like she was intruding, which was ridiculous. She did live here!

Draco shrugged, nodding like that was all, "I see."

He returned his attention to his book and continued reading. Hermione stood at the doorway, not knowing what to do. She sighed, and gathered up all her courage. There was no easy way to do this, but she had to. She was a Gryffindor, for Merlin's sake, she was supposed to be brave, but why did she just feel like an idiot?

"Draco-"

"Can I help you, Granger? If you need someone else to kiss because Weasel's being a prick, I'm sure Blaise is free right now."

Ouch.

"Malfoy. Stop being a prick. I didn't kiss you because Ron was being annoying! If that was that case, then I would kiss you every day! Ron doesn't know how not to be annoying!"

Wait. That hadn't been what she was going to say. That made it sound like she wanted to kiss him every day...not that she didn't...but that wasn't the point! Damn it! This wasn't how she'd practised this!

Stupid Malfoy, he was ruining her perfectly thought out explanation!

Draco paused reading and cleared his throat, trying not to smile at the flush on her face. "Then why did you kiss me, Granger?" he asked slowly, turning the page in the book he was pretending to read.

"Maybe...maybe because I wanted to." She said, trying to work up the nerve to admit it. Draco resisted the temptation to put her out of her misery and tell her that he knew what she wanted to say. But this was far too amusing to not hear out.

Besides, he wanted to see how brave the Gryffindor Princess could be.

"Because you wanted to? Why on earth would you want to kiss me, Granger?" He closed the book he was reading and put it to the side, getting comfortable on the couch as Hermione began to squeeze her fingers together anxiously at his questions.

He was not making this easy on her at all, why was he such a prick?

"Okay...so let's say that...um...hypothetically..." her voice faded out and she bit her lip, her yes flying around the room like she was wishing it would swallow her up. She pulled at her tie.

Draco hid his smirk and waited for her to explain, enjoying this far more than he should have. How long had he waited for a moment like this to present itself to him? Of course, he'd expected the roles to be reversed, but he didn't mind now.

Granger was adorable when she was outside her comfort zone.

Thank the gods that Potter had explained. Otherwise, this conversation would have been going a lot differently right now.

She exhaled loudly and licked her lips, "right....so theoretically...let's say that there was this girl and she really, really liked you-this guy...right? Um...and supposedly, he gave this girl butterflies...a lot of butterflies' every time we-they talk...and the stupid insects refuse to die...even after I...she takes medicine for it...but um...that's not it...wait...okay, so he's one of the most wonderful people I...no...she's ever met and hypothetically...her heart kind of beats ten times faster when she sees you-him...him...do you think that he could possibly...in a hypothetical way...feel the same way about her?"

Hermione watched as his face stayed completely void of an emotion. A blank canvass of thoughts as he mulled over her words. But, at least she'd explained it well, right? Surely, he would understand what she was trying to say?

Draco wanted to laugh, and then he wanted to sweep her up in a tight hug too. she was so adorable. What the hell was the hypothetical crap about? Then again, it was Granger.

Did she say she too medicine for butterflies in her stomach?

She was staring at him, waiting for a response. Draco schooled his face to a mask of confusion.

"What?" he finally asked, looking thoroughly perplexed.

She stared at the ceiling of their dorm room and sighed heavily, desperately wanting to smack some sense into him, but her words hadn't been well explained at all. Thinking about it now, what the hell had she even said?

"Granger, I didn't understand any of what you just said, for my sake, just spit it out. I'm not going to bite." He said, sitting upright.

Hermione bit her bottom lip, he was right. What was thinking, beating around the bush like this? She was supposed to be brave, she had to be brave. She had to tell him, before he got the wrong idea.

Ginny was right too. Even if she couldn't be friends with him anymore, she'd rather know than grow bitter towards him because she hadn't been brave. In all honesty, Ron had just been a catalyst, an excuse she'd used to propel herself to do what she'd wanted to do for months.

She wasn't spontaneous at all, but if she told herself that what she was going was for the sake of her pride, and not because otherwise she was far too cowardly to do it herself, then she'd been willing to let Ron anger her enough to make her brave.

"Okay, fine. I kind of like you...a bit." She finally said.

There, that hadn't been so bad! She'd done it! She'd told him her feelings, now all he had to do was reply.

"You like me?" he paused, thinking over those words, "As in, romantically?" he confirmed.

Hermione clenched her teeth, wishing that all the blood in her body wasn't rushing to her face and making it even more obvious that she was embarrassed. "Well, yes."

"So the whole hypothetical and theoretical crap from before was about you and me, then?" he asked, standing up and putting his book back on her bookshelf. What that her book that he'd been reading then?

Hermione clenched her fingers together into fists, that wasn't the important thing! Who care whose book he was reading when there were more vital things to discuss? She cleared her throat, feeling awkward.

"Um...yeah."

"I give you butterflies, Granger?"

Was he smirking? Was he enjoying her humiliation? Of course, he was!

She sounded like an idiot!

Hermione groaned to herself, oh gods, why had she said that? Of all the things to say! Especially since, right now, it felt like the butterflies in her stomach were evolving into elephants that were stampeding around inside her, but somehow, telling him that it wasn't butterflies anymore but elephants, didn't feel like the right response.

"That's not important, Malfoy-"

"You like me romantically, Granger?"

Hermione crossed her arm, holding up her head in pride and looking away. "Yes, I do."

He frowned and shook his head like he was disappointed in her, "are you sure you do Granger? People like you don't tend to like people like me at all, let alone in a romantic way." He said, casually walking towards her, his eyes fixated on her face.

Hermione ground her teeth in irritation. Was he doing that on purpose? Repeating the word 'romantic' as much as possible to make her feel even more like an idiot?

Because it was working. And it was irritating her as well.

"I'm allowed to love whoever I want!" she mumbled, annoyed at him.

Draco froze, "love?"

Hermione froze too. Oh no. Damnit. Why couldn't she control her mouth? Why was she always saying things without thinking it through? What was the point of being smart if she couldn't even control her mouth?

"You love me? Really?"

Hermione looked at him in confusion, why did he sound astounded? More importantly, why wasn't he laughing at her yet?

"Um...I think so." She stated, pulling at her tie. There. She'd told him. Kind of.

Draco ran a and through his hair, "love...you love me? Granger...!"

Hermione scowled. What kind of a response was that supposed to be? Was she supposed to understand that? Because she didn't, she had no idea what that was supposed to mean.

"Love. That's a strong word, Granger. Are you sure you're not just tolerating me?" he asked. He didn't move from his spot, his form still, watching her like her answer was going to decide his entire fate.

Hermione scowled at him, not understanding, "I don't use the word if I don't mean it, Malfoy. I don't say things I don't mean, not usually." She answered. Her face was still warm, but her heart wasn't hammering quite so loudly now.

Draco frowned, his fingers clenched at his sides, "you love me? Hermione Granger, loves Draco Malfoy? After everything he's done, after everything that's happened? After all the suffering, she's been through because of him, you love me?"

Hermione pouted. Was he teasing her? Was he enjoying how embarrassed she was feeling? She crossed her arms, "yes I do. What are you going to do about it?" she held up her head in pride and huffed at him.

Draco hadn't expected that. He hadn't expected her to be the one to say it. He hadn't expected it all, but...he narrowed his eyes at her prideful words, enjoying the embarrassment on her face at her confession. Did she have any idea how fun it was to tease her like this?

How amazing she was?

"I'm...I'm going to punch you." He finally stated, nodding to himself, as he took a careful step towards her.

Hermione stared at him blankly, "you're going to...punch me?"

He nodded again, "in the mouth..." he added, as if that was supposed to clear everything up.

"...what?" Hermione asked, baffled at his words, and suddenly aware of how close he was to her. Was he actually going to get violent with her because of what she'd done? Because of what she'd said?

Had she hurt him that badly? She took a small step away from him.

Was this his answer then? Did he hate her for what she'd done? He didn't love her, let alone like her, right? She'd been right, she'd ruined their friendship because she told him. But, at least she knew now.

If that was his answer- "I'm going to punch you in the mouth...with my mouth, softly, because I love you too, Granger." He finished, smirking at the bewildered, open mouth look of confusion on her face.

"Huh? What?"

And then he kissed her and shut her up, because honestly, Granger talked way too much sometimes.

And she wasn't spontaneous, but she was exhilarating. 

.*.

Thank you for reading!!! Hope you liked it :)