AN: Hey there everyone! I know I really should be working on my other story at the moment, but this idea was stuck in my head and kept me up for 4 hours without letting me sleep, so I needed to get it out of my system. It's something I've never really done before, but I think it'll be a fun experiment.

Basically, this is a 'what if...' story, postulating about what could happen if Hermione decided to stay at Slughorn's party longer than she did in the HBP book, and this is what I came up with. I've never really seen a story started from this point, which is sad because I think there's a lot that can be done with Sluggy's party, as you may see if you read. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Harry Potter...I don't even own a movie poster, that's my sister's.

Evasive Maneuvers

Hermione was at her wit's end. She was regretting ever coming to this stupid excuse for a party. It was obvious Slughorn simply wanted to show off all the connections he had made in the past, and the ones he was grooming for the future. Despite her slight disdain for how the Potions Master was handling this whole affair, she couldn't complain about the sheer number of people packed into the room, especially as they had all made it easier to stay well away from her 'date'—one Cormac McLaggen. He had been tailing her closely ever since she had left him under the mistletoe not ten minutes after they had arrived, and she had no plans on letting him catch up to her in the crowd, either.

When she had first run into Harry and Luna, she had thought she was in the clear (surely the seventh year wouldn't dare try anything with one of her closest friends right there), but that hadn't worked out at all how she had planned. For one, she had found absolutely no sympathy from the bespectacled boy; Harry was being his usual blunt—and admittedly correct—self by pointing out that it was her own fault, anyway. For another, she had realized just in time that he had been standing next to her least favorite professor in all of Hogwarts. She may have been just this side of desperate, but there was nothing on this planet that would make Hermione Granger ever willingly talk to Professor Sybil Trelawney of the Divination Department, not even the persistence of an over-inflated buffoon like McLaggen.

After that, she had been able to lose her tail in the crowd when Filch and Malfoy had caused a scene, though unfortunately she had lost sight of Harry too. And so with no better option, she had since been constantly on the move through the crowd of students and adults alike, making small talk when she came upon someone she knew, but also making sure to always be moving once again when she caught even the slightest glimpse of McLaggen's silhouette. She hadn't counted on the stupid oaf having some sort of super-human internal compass fixated on her, though, and was getting increasingly frustrated with how close behind he always seemed to be.

At the moment, she was by the table of drinks, indulging in a small rest while she watched her perpetual shadow get sucked into a conversation with Ginny, Dean, and none other than Gwenog Jones of the Holyhead Harpies. Thanking the fates that McLaggen was a susceptibvle to Quidditch-talk as every other male in this school, Hermione let out a fairly big sigh in relief. Feeling safe enough to let her guard down slightly, the girl scanned the rest of the room, and her glance caught on a figure near the party's entrance.

Harry was leaning up against the wall just to the side of the door, with a very peculiar expression on his face. Glancing once more to see that McLaggen was still ensnared in his conversation (more like regaling his keeper skills to the nonplussed professional woman, she scoffed inwardly), Hermione made her way over to her friend, trying to puzzle out what exactly he was thinking.

Finally reaching him, she leaned up against the wall next to him, but Harry didn't even seem to notice, he was so deep in his own thoughts. After a minute or so with no change in his expression, Hermione was becoming a little worried at just how vacant the boy's stare was, and she finally broke the silence their little corner had fallen into.

"Is something wrong, Harry?"

He jumped and turned to look at her, clearing wondering when she had shown up, and had just opened his mouth to answer when they were interrupted by a loud voice heading straight for them.

"There you are, Granger!" McLaggen, seeming to barrel through the crowd as if there were all simply made of paper, cried jubilantly. His celebration wasn't received as happily by the people whose ears he had just shouted into, and despite them shoving him right back, he never seemed to stray from the warpath he had made. Having been taken by surprise, Hermione simply froze against the wall, as Harry looked around, trying to follow what was happening.

"Ah, I see! You wanted one more chance to wish me a Happy Christmas before this wraps up, eh?" He continued, with a much too eager look on his face for Hermione's comfort and an obscenely waving eyebrow. She followed his gaze, and to her horror realized she had led him right back to where their night of cat-and-mouse had started; under an innocently hanging twig of mistletoe not five feet away from her.

Panicking, she glanced around for an escape route, trying to avoid looking at the collection of leaves mockingly hanging just to the right of Harry, who didn't seem to feel the same alarm as she did at the older Gryffindor's approach. Had she the time and energy, she would have smacked him for looking so amused at her distress, but as it was she was too worried about escaping to bother. With the stone wall at her back, however, she couldn't find any sort of path through the clumps of people in the immediate vicinity, all of whom were too interested in the commotion McLaggen was making to move in any case.

Without thinking, she did the first thing that came to her mind in order to keep McLaggen at a safe distance.

She grabbed Harry unceremoniously by the scruff of his dress robes, pulled him under the Mistletoe and kissed him.

AN: Umm...Surprise? What'd you think? Should I keep going, or am I wasting my time?

And just so you know, I am NOT shipping anything at this point, though that doesn't mean there may or may not be any romance (of ANY pairs) later (if there is a later...). I have kinda got caught up in the Harry/Hermione ship recently, but the romance side always seems to move way too fast, so I wanted to start with it being something totally non-romantic and seeing how it could change things. The only reason Hermione jumped on Harry at the end there was because she panicked...had McLaggen not been heading over to do the same to her, this scene never would have happened, from my perspective, so I hope you all keep that in mind.

Other than that, please review if you so wish, because I'd really like to know what you all think, and if this is an idea worth pursuing.
Okay, done talking, if anyone's still reading. I promise.

Toodles!

voice-on-the-wind