A/N: Thank you so much for the love on the last chapter! You guys are amazing! xx

Beta Love: TheLastLynx on FFN

--

Hermione had met up with her best friend in the Potter's garden to catch up. Ginny wanted to know all about her date with Draco. When Hermione told her about her conversation with Sirius the redhead's mouth dropped open.

'I can't believe you've never heard of The Marauders before, have you been living under a rock?' Ginny asked in disbelief.

Hermione frowned. Apparently, that was the case. Usually it was Hermione who was the one to know about everything that happened, and not the other way around.

'So, you also know who was a member of The Marauders?' Hermione asked carefully. She wasn't about to spill James Potter's secret, if he wished to keep it from his son and daughter in law.

'I know dad was,' Harry's voice spoke behind them.

Hermione froze. She hadn't realised her other best friend was within ear reach. Harry walked up to them, his father following close behind and the two Potters sat down next to the girls.

'It's no secret, Hermione,' James said kindly. 'My family knows of my past, and I'm actually quite proud of it as well. The Marauders weren't infamous for their bad actions like the Slytherins. We actually tried to do good, and most importantly, we protected those we loved from the snakes. Or, we tried to.'

His expression got sad, and Hermione was almost certain the man was thinking about Marlene. She wanted to say something, but Harry beat her to it.

'If it weren't for you guys, more people could have gotten hurt, Dad,' he patted his father on the shoulder with a small smile, before turning to Hermione. 'Is it true that your dating Malfoy?'

Hermione blinked, and slowly nodded

'Yes, I guess so. Why?'

She narrowed her eyes at her friend. He wasn't about to say she shouldn't, was he? Harry chuckled when he saw her expression and reached out to grab her hand.

'Don't worry, Mione. I just wanted to say: be careful. All I want is for you to be happy, and if Malfoy is part of that, then I'm okay with that.'

James nodded in agreement.

'Sirius told me about your chat. Draco is a good lad, all of the younger generation of Slytherin are raised differently than their parents. The gang changed a lot since the accident, and though they are not innocent, they aren't villains either. All I'm asking of you Hermione, is to come to any of us if he or any of the others tries to hurts you, or if you think something is wrong. We might not be The Marauders anymore, but we do still protect our own. And you are family, Hermione,' James said, looking serious.

Hermione smiled at them. The Potters really were like family, and she loved every one of them very much. She was glad they weren't lecturing her or trying to change her mind about Draco, just because he was a Slytherin. No, they were willing to give him a chance for her sake. And she really appreciated that.

'So, will you bring blondie as your date to my game on Saturday?' Ginny asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

'I, err, I don't know yet,' Hermione stuttered.

She hadn't really thought of it yet. And hadn't Luna told Theo he wasn't allowed to join them? She had said something about spending time with her friends, but maybe the blonde girl had said so because Hermione was the only one without a date to bring. She decided she would talk to Luna about it. She was sure the boys would prefer that in any case. Theo hadn't looked very happy when Luna denied him to come, and she was now almost sure it was because he wanted to be there to protect her. If she had learned anything about biker gangs, it's that they felt very protective of the ones they cared about.

'Earth to Hermione,' Ginny laughed, waving her hand in front of Hermione's face.

'Oh, sorry. What were you saying?' Hermione blushed.

Harry grinned at her. 'Mum, asked if you were staying for dinner?'

Hermione looked to her left to see Lily Potter standing in the door opening, chuckling. She was wearing an apron and some oven gloves.

'I'd love to, let me tell my parents.'

--

On Friday Hermione was drowning in work at the office. For some reason the pile on her desk only seemed to be growing, and the hot weather didn't help her move along quicker. Sweat dripped down her neck and Hermione groaned in annoyance. She was already wearing shorts and her tank top with the shop logo, but she still felt too hot. Sirius had already brought her several glasses of cold iced water, and Hermione was sure she'd drank two litres already, making her need to go to the loo every hour.

'Oh Princess, where are you?' Draco called from outside.

Hermione huffed.

'Inside my office, where else would I be?' she muttered and got up from her chair.

She seemed to have been glued to it and Hermione shuddered when she felt the droplets of sweat trickle down her leg. Yuck. Where was Draco anyway, he usually didn't wait to barge in. When he'd still hadn't come in a couple of minutes later, she decided to look for him outside. She could use a little break and some fresh air in any case.

As soon as she stepped outside her office she got attacked. Water was being poured onto her from two sides. A shriek left her mouth, but then she felt the cold of the water and relished the refreshing feeling. Draco and Pansy were both standing a few yards away with water guns in their hand, and big grins on their faces.

'We heard you could use some cooling down,' Draco said, pointing the water gun at her again.

The stream of water hit her right in the face. Hermione screamed in surprise, then she burst out laughing. Pansy's water stream hit her back, and Hermione let out another shriek.

'Eeeek, did you put freezing water in there,' Hermione laughed as she tried to dodge their streams.

Her top was drenched already, but Hermione welcomed the coolness against her skin.

'This is not fair you know,' Hermione shrieked when another hit of freezing water touched her neck.

As if he heard her, Sirius suddenly appeared at her side and pressed a water gun into her hand.

'Couldn't leave you defenceless now, could I? Attack, Kitten,' he grinned.

He didn't need to say it twice, and Hermione ran towards the blond Slytherin with an evil grin on her face, pointing her gun at his chest. Sirius, however, decided to join the young adults and gave Pansy a cold shower with his gun, making the girl shriek just as loud as Hermione had.

'Oh it's on, Black!' she shouted, pointing her gun at him instead of Hermione.

Go on then, Princess, show me what you've got,' Draco said, wiggling his eyebrows at Hermione as he dodged her stream of water.

Hermione laughed and attacked, managing to get his white shirt wet in only three attempts. They yelled, laughed, and ran around the front garden like children, enjoying the feeling of the cold water in the heat. It didn't take long for Hermione to be absolutely drenched, making it a little more difficult to move around as her sneakers got slippery. Draco took full advantage and kept hitting her with his water stream, grinning as she squealed.

'I will get you, Malfoy,' Hermione yelled, putting her hands in front of her face to block the stream.

She ducked forward and wrapped her arms around his waist, shoving him until he fell over. She tumbled on top of him, but quickly put her legs on both sides of his body and pointed her water gun at his face.

'Gotcha,' she grinned.

Draco had lost his gun in the fall and stared up at her with sparkling eyes. His hands moved to her hips.

'If you wanted to sit on top of me, all you had to do was ask, Princess,' he smirked, making Hermione cry out at attack his face with water.

Draco however managed to turn the two of them around and pried the gun out of Hermione's fingers, flipping it aside so she couldn't reach it. His hands grabbed her wrists and pinned them down at the ground, leaning over her so his face hovered above hers. Hermione felt her blood rush through her veins; he was so very close.

'Did you really think you could win, Princess,' Draco said, moving his face closer.

Just as she thought he was going to kiss her, they both got sprayed with freezing water. Pansy's laughter made Draco jump up and grab his gun again. He helped Hermione up, and the fight was on again. This time, Draco and Hermione, against Pansy and Sirius.

When all four of them where completely drenched and panting like they just ran the marathon, they sat down in the shadow to catch their breath.

'Well, that was fun,' Sirius grinned as he pushed his wet hair out of his face.

Hermione nodded and let herself fall back on the grass. Pansy mirrored her movement.

'Thanks guys, that was just what I needed,' Hermione said, while staring up at a heart-shaped cloud.

She always tried to see forms and shapes in the clouds, it had become a habit ever since she and Harry had spent an entire night under the stars when they were little. Sirius had been with them, and he had pointed out the constellations to them. When they'd gotten bored by that he had started this little game who could find the funniest shaped cloud. He'd come up with two clouds that looked like fighting rabbits, Harry had seen a huge duck, and Hermione had pointed out a large dog bone.

'I'm going to order some pizza, you guys want to stay for lunch?' Sirius asked both Slytherins, interrupting Hermione's thoughts

'Who says no to Pizza? I'm in if Drake is,' Pansy replied, winking at Hermione as if she did it for her.

'If it's pepperoni, I'm definitely staying. Got a pint as well, Black?' Draco asked, wiggling his blond eyebrows at Sirius.

Hermione watched the two of them with a smile. At the moment they very much seemed like friends, which made her a very happy girl. Sirius had agreed to give the young Malfoy a chance, and he was keeping his word.

'Sure, drink my beer as well,' Sirius mocked, but his lips curled up into a smile. 'You up for the usual, Kitten? Cheese and all?'

Hermione held up her thumbs, and with a nod Sirius jogged away to the workshop to order their pizzas and fetch them the beers. Draco lied down onto the grass next to her, and Hermione smiled. It felt right to lay here between Draco and Pansy. She had only just met them less than two weeks ago, but it felt like she'd known them much longer. Hermione's hand moved a bit to the right, so her fingers could touch Draco's, and he turned his head to look at her. The sun reflected in his grey eyes and Hermione was sure her heart jumped at the sight. Damn those eyes. Draco's fingers grasped hers and he moved a little closer so he could get a better grip on her hand. Hermione bit her lip and intertwined their fingers. How could something so small like this, make her feel so good? His touch felt so comfortable, it made her feel calm. She wanted nothing more than to snuggle up against his body and place her head on his chest, but they weren't alone. And even though she was almost sure Pansy wouldn't care, she didn't move. They hadn't cuddled like this before, and she had no idea how Draco would feel about it.

'God, I can just smell the sweetness coming off of you guys,' Pansy groaned. 'Seriously, Drake, get a grip man. Either kiss the woman, or stop acting like a lovesick teenager.'

Hermione chuckled.

'You're not jealous, are you Pans?' she teased, fully knowing the girl was not. Not at her anyway, if she was, it would be because she wanted to kiss someone else herself. 'How's Neville?'

Pansy stopped groaning and moved her body to the side so she could look at Hermione. Her lips had curled up into a grin and she wiggled her eyebrows.

'Oh, he's great. Maybe even the best I've ever had.'

Hermione laughed. 'He's a great kisser, that's as far as my knowledge of Neville goes and I do not need to know how he is in bed, thank you very much.'

'Oh just as good as he is at kissing, the things that man can do with his mouth,' Pansy fanned herself with her hand and grinned. 'Pheeeww'

'You've kissed Neville?' Draco asked, completely ignoring his best friend.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him, but nodded.

'We briefly dated at School, I thought I'd mentioned that already.'

'No, I don't think you have,' he frowned.

Hermione hit his chest in a playful manner, before leaning forward to kiss his cheek.

'Wipe that jealous look of your face, Malfoy. It doesn't suit you,' she teased.

Draco fisted her hair and pulled her closer to him. Hermione gasped at the feeling, but before she could say anything he pressed his mouth against hers.

'Sure, pretend I'm not here,' Pansy muttered, but Hermione barely heard her.

Draco's lip were hard against hers at first, but when she responded to him they softened immediately. She smiled against his mouth and wrapped her arms around his neck, prying his lips open with her tongue. He moaned softly when their tongues started to dance around each other, and circled his free arm around her waist to pull her closer. Hermione let him enjoy their kiss for a while, as she was very much loving the feeling as well, before she fisted his hair and roughly pulled his head back from hers.

She leaned towards him and whispered against his lips. 'Don't ever be jealous of another man, Draco Malfoy. I've made it very clear that you are the only one makes my heart beat faster. You can play the possessive card whenever there are other men to show interest in me, but don't ever try to do this again when it's just us and friends. They are no threat to you, and if Sirius would have seen you get all over me like this, he would have no problem kicking you of his property. Do keep in mind we only just started dating, I would hate for you to mess up that chance he gave you to prove yourself worthy.'

Slowly Hermione pressed a sweet kiss on his lips and released his hair. She climbed out of his lap and smirked at Pansy, who stared at her with her mouth shaped in an 'O' and sparkling eyes.

'That was hot,' the brunette said. 'You should get used to him being possessive though, it's in his nature.' She added when Hermione smiled at her.

Draco hadn't moved yet, he just sat there blinking, totally flabbergasted. The girls giggled, and Sirius chose that moment to return.

'What happened to him?' he asked, chuckling at the look on Draco's face.

'Hermione happened,' Pansy replied as she accepted the beer he offered her.

Sirius raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth to say something, but he seemed to change his mind.

'I don't think I want to know,' he muttered as he dropped into the grass next to his young friends.

Padfoot had followed his owner and was now pressing his nose into Hermione's neck, begging for attention. She grinned at the dog and scratched him behind his ear. Padfoot almost seemed to purr, and when she stopped he let himself fall to the ground and rolled on his back, showing his belly. His large tongue rolled out his mouth and he looked at the girls with big puppy eyes they couldn't resist. Hermione and Pansy both moved closer to cuddle the dog and cooed at him as if he was a child.

'Charmer,' Sirius chuckled at his dog.

'He certainly knows how to attract the ladies, but I guess that's expected from the Blacks' family dog,' Draco smirked.

Sirius barked out a laugh and took a sip of his beer.

'Why thank you Malfoy, my brother and I sure taught him well.'

Pansy turned around to look at Draco.

'You're not jealous of the dog are you, Drake?'

'Don't be ridiculous, Pans, I have way more charm than him. No offense to you Padfoot, but you have loads to learn still,' Draco replied. 'Maybe I should take him out sometimes, teach him the Malfoy way.'

'And mess up my dog? No thanks,' Sirius laughed, making Hermione and Pansy join in.

'Hey!' Draco pouted. 'I charmed my way into Hermione's life, doesn't that give me at least some credit?'

'That it does. I still don't know how you did it. She's way out of your league, mate. Guess you just got very lucky. If I were you I'd treat her like a queen, and no less than that, or else you'd might lose her just as fast as you got her,' Sirius said.

Hermione heard the silent threat behind it, and she was sure Draco did too, but he simply agreed with the raven-haired man.

'That won't be a problem. I already call her Princess, and I have every intention to treat her like that. Hermione is an extraordinary young woman, and she deserves the world. I want to give her just that, and nothing less. You don't ever have to fear I'll treat her anything but right, Sirius, you have my word. I'd protect her with my life.'

Hermione looked at the blonde man with a warm feeling in her heart. His words made her feel giddy and a tiny bit emotional. How could he be this perfect? Were his words really true? Would he love her that much in their future?

'He means it, you know. He would literally catch a bullet for you, girl. If Draco Malfoy really cares for someone, he'd die for them. And trust me when I say that he already cares a great deal for you. It's crazy actually,' Pansy smiled.

'It really is. I feel like it's all a dream, or like I'm in a cliché movie where soulmates exist,' Hermione replied, laughing nervously. 'I'm guessing normal relationships don't go like this?'

Pansy shook her head. She took a long sip of her beer before leaning a bit closer to Hermione. Both man were still chatting, but they also had moved closer to each other and talked softly.

'He's acting like you're actual royalty, I've never seen him like this. The thing is, it was kind of the same with his parents.'

'What do you mean?' Hermione frowned.

Pansy glanced at Draco.

'Lucius Malfoy was already in Slytherin when he met Narcissa Black, his father Abraxas made him join when he was eighteen,-'

'Wait a minute, did you just say Black?' Hermione interrupted.

This was new. Was Draco's mom related to Sirius? Was he Draco's uncle, maybe? The whole thing made Hermione feel weird, but when she saw Pansy's warning glare, she bit her tongue. She would ask either Draco or Sirius later.

'As I was saying,' Pansy continued. 'Lucius didn't really have a choice in joining Slytherin. Their leader, Tom Riddle, wanted all children aboard as soon as they were old enough, in fear they might turn against him. When he met Narcissa he instantly fell for her, but wasn't allowed to do anything. Something about her sister betraying the family and Slytherin. The story was bullshit, but Riddle forbid Lucius from seeing Narcissa at first. It didn't stop him of course, Draco definitely got his stubbornness from his father.'

Hermione smiled at this and let her eyes wander to where Draco sat, still chatting quietly with Sirius.

'I was told that they never saw a couple connect as fast as them, they were perfect for each other apparently, and I now see why. Lucius is a difficult man, but he never ever treated Narcissa with any disrespect. She's truly his queen. It makes sense that Draco would treat you the same, especially since you two bonded as quickly as you did. It's almost like history was repeating itself,' Pansy finished with a chuckle.

'It sounds like a story from a fairy tale. Forbidden love, Princess this, Queen that, history repeating,' Hermione said, a small smile played on her lips.

Pansy grinned. 'Oh it really does. Don't forget the magic.'

'Magic?' Hermione raised her eyebrows.

'Yeah, fairy tales with magic are the best,' Pansy laughed.

'I agree, and it kind of feels like magic as well. I mean, how else can you explain all of this? Never in a million years I'd expected to feel what I feel for Draco. I care for him as if he's been in my life for so much longer,' Hermione said as her eyes searched for Draco.

'He feels the same way about you, and it might sounds crazy, but so do I,' Pansy said, drawing Hermione's attention away from the blond.

'What, you got feelings for me too, Pans?' she teased.

Pansy rolled her eyes, and smirked at her.

'Sure, I'm head over heels for you, Princess.'

'Hey, don't you dare use my nickname for her,' Draco suddenly called out, glaring at his best friend.

Hermione could see the laughter in his eyes and Pansy stuck out her tongue to him, before both girls burst into laughter. Draco crawled over the grass to sit closer to the girls, leaving Sirius to shake his head at the younger generation in front of him.

'Not gossiping about me are you?' Draco asked.

'We wouldn't dare,' Hermione grinned. 'What's there to gossip about anyways,' Pansy added. The girls smiled at each other and Draco narrowed his eyes, carefully watching their faces. Pansy moved closer to Hermione and rested her head on her shoulder. 'You wouldn't mind if I stole her from you, would you? Hermione and I just realised how much we care for each other already. I mean, admit it Drake, me and Hermione make a much better and more beautiful couple tha-' Pansy got interrupted by her blond best friend who jumped up from the grass to tickle her. The brunette screamed and tried to get away, but Draco was stronger. Pansy yelled for mercy, but she could barely get the words out between her giggles. Hermione watched the two friends with a smile. Who would guess these two were in a famous bikers gang that scared most people to death? Everyone had two sides, and moments like this only proved to Hermione to never judge someone just by their looks.