A/N: Hi everyone!! Just wanted to get this little real life plot bunny out of my head. It's actually something that I wanted to do, to get my feelings for this guy I like out into the open, because I'm too scared to actually say myself, except using facebook. So, here we go!

I HAVE NOT GIVEN UP ON TBF!!! The next chapter is due out when I can find the motivation to write it, so don't worry, I will not give up!!

Disclaimer: I make no money off the story and anything you recognise from the Harry Potter series is not mine.

Message Board

It was just an ordinary day in Hogwarts castle. All of the surviving students came back to finish their schooling and revel in their new lives. Even most of the Slytherins in the upper year levels had come back.

The Golden Trio and everyone in their year had been named the "Eighth Years". They joined in all of the seventh year classes, making the NEWTs classes even bigger than normal.

As for the individual students, well, Harry and Ginny were a very happy couple and possibly the cutest in the whole school, with Neville and Luna following close behind.

Hermione and Ron had tried to have a relationship over the holidays, but both knew it was going nowhere fast, so they broke it off a month later, claiming they were much better as friends. The two still bickered all the time, and nothing would ever stop that, but, they were both happy, and getting on with their lives.

When they arrived back at Hogwarts, Ron nearly immediately got back together with Lavender, finding her to have matured a lot over the course of the war, having suffered losses just like everyone else. She was still quirky, and loved fashion, and make up and such, and was still a bit of an airhead, but she was very much more tuned in to when the moment is serious.

As for the Slytherins, well, they were more open to having friends from other houses, and were less introverted. Some of the older year levels now could be found to have friends in Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, a thing that was nearly never heard of a couple of years ago.

Draco Malfoy could be seen being pleasant, and, even on the odd occasion, smiling, actually smiling, with his friends. There was much less animosity between him and Harry now that the war was over. They had both found that their enmity was an immature act, and had formed a truce. Although one, that was not like by Ron. No matter what would happen, those two would forever dislike each other.

Though, on occasion, he could be seen studying with Hermione in the library, talking civilly, if not amicably with her. The two had grown to be friends, and found that they had very similar interests; apart from quidditch of course.

Nowadays, the only rivalry between the houses was when it came down to quidditch and house points.

But, as previously stated it was just an ordinary day at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a Saturday to be exact, in the middle of the year, where Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley could be found sitting on Hermione's bed and doing the one thing that Hermione didn't like; gossiping.

"You know Hermione, Ron's got Lavender, I've got Harry, hell, even Neville's got Luna. We need to find you a boyfriend." Ginny stated. Hermione blushed.

"What if I don't want one Ginny? Have you ever thought of that?" Hermione knew she sounded slightly snappish, but Ginny had been bugging her about this for weeks now.

"Oh, trust me, I know you want one. I've seen the way you stare at Mr. Malfoy you know. You two would be really cute I think." Ginny teased. Hermione's face went a darker shade of red and spluttered.

"I have no idea what you are talking about!" She answered, steadily blushing crimson. Ginny smirked.

"Yeah, yeah Hermione; I might believe you someday." Ginny retorted. Hermione groaned.

"Fine! I like him, okay! But there is no way that he would ever think of me that way. He just thinks of me as his study buddy or something." She moped. Ginny raised an eyebrow at her, reminding her strongly of Draco himself.

"We'll just see about that. Why don't you post something on the Message Board?" Ginny asked.

At the start of the year, so the students could relieve tensions and such, Dumbledore had created a giant message board and stuck it on a wall in the Entrance Hall.

Hermione gaped at Ginny.

"Are you crazy?! You want me to just put a post on the message board about my feelings for him? You really are an idiot sometimes Gin, I'm sorry, but you are." Hermione ranted. Ginny rolled her eyes.

"I didn't mean something completely obvious. I meant something kinda ambiguous." Ginny answered. Hermione was about to protest, when she abruptly closed her mouth again.

"Ambiguous might be okay. But no names!! I don't want anyone knowing about it. Especially not him." Hermione replied hesitantly at first, and then with determination. Ginny grinned.

"So, now that you've made up your mind; what are you going to write?" She asked. Hermione closed her eyes and thought for a moment.

"What about, just simply, "I like you"?" She asked. Ginny scrunched up her nose in an act of rejection.

"What about something like, "You make my world go round"?" Ginny suggested. Hermione frowned.

"I don't like it. It seems too, I don't know, cliché? How about, "You could never know how I feel about you"?" Hermione suggested. Now it was Ginny's turn to frown.

"It sounds odd. I've got it! How about, "What would you say if I told you I like you?" Then, you could have someone reply if they figure out who it is that wrote it!" Ginny exclaimed. Hermione looked thoughtful then smiled.

"I like it!" She agreed and both girls started giggling.

So, the next morning, Hermione and Ginny got up early, before everyone else in the castle, and stuck Hermione's message on the Message Board in the Entrance Hall. Then, happily, the two made their way into the Great Hall for an early breakfast.

By the time the day was done, the entire school knew that someone had an unrequited love.

-

Draco got up Monday morning for school and yawned. He'd just been having a lovely dream about his crush, Hermione, when Crabbe had rolled out of bed unannounced and hit the floor with a dull thud, waking everyone up suddenly.

Grumbling about being woken up so early, Draco grabbed a towel and had a quick shower before dressing and heading down to the Great Hall for breakfast; Blaise Zabini in tow. As they walked into the Entrance Hall, he noticed that some people were milling about the Message Board again.

"A lot of people still want to know who it is that has this crush. They're estimating that it's a female because of the handwriting." Blaise informed. Draco nodded.

Draco had heard whisperings about this person who had written a note and put it on the Message Board for the whole of the school to see. He hadn't really been that interested in that state of affairs though, and hadn't bothered to even glance at the note.

"I think I want to have a look at that note." Draco announced to Blaise, and walked off in the direction of the Message Board, scaring off some of the people loitering there.

"Which one is it?" Draco asked. He couldn't see a single note that had anything love worthy on it. Blaise pointed to a small piece of parchment that had delicate writing scrawled across it.

"What would you say if I told you I like you?"

Draco looked at the note for a moment before his eyes widened in recognition. Blaise immediately noticed his friend's changed demeanour and clapped a hand to his shoulder.

"What's wrong, Draco?" He asked. Draco shook his head and turned away from the Board, walking towards the Great Hall, muttering to himself.

"She probably thought that she was being sneaky by not writing her name on there, but I know who it is, and I know who it's for." He murmured. Blaise followed on behind him with a worried look on his face.

"Draco, what's going on?" He asked. Draco just waved him off, before standing up straight and walking into the Great Hall; his eyes instantly seeking out hers, and smirking lightly at her before walking off to the Slytherin table.

Draco knew exactly who had written that note. After all, he's been her study partner for almost four months now. He could recognise her writing anywhere.

'I bet she wasn't expecting me to recognise her. Or maybe she was, and wanted me to find out?' He thought. Draco shook his head free of thoughts. Now that he knew who it was, he was going to tell Hermione Granger exactly what he felt about her.

-

It was about five days after she'd posted that note on the Message Board, and she was feeling uneasy. Draco had been smiling at her a lot more, and winking at her, and sitting closer to her. She was starting to think that he knew that she had written the note and was playing with her. She voiced her concerns to Ginny.

"I'm sure he's just flirting with you more than he normally does. Don't worry about it. There is no way that he could possibly know that it was you who wrote that note." Ginny reassured, before going back to her homework, or well, going back to staring at Harry and not doing her homework. Hermione sighed and finished hers quickly, before heading back up to the Gryffindor Common Room and falling asleep, dreaming about molten silver eyes, pale skin and white blonde hair.

-

The next morning, Hermione was sitting down at breakfast with all of her friends, when a lone school owl flew in through the window. The entire school stopped to watch the bird as flew down and landed softly beside Hermione's plate.

Hermione and Ginny looked at each other in apprehension before taking the letter from the owl and feeding it some of her pancake. After swallowing the food, the bird took off back to the Owlery. The two of them shared another worried look, and Hermione opened the letter. It only held a single sentence.

'I would say that I like you too.'

Hermione's hands started shaking, and she passed the note to Ginny. She could recognise him anywhere. The parchment he used even smelled like him. She looked down at her plate and took deep, heavy breaths. Harry, Ron and Lavender all looked at Hermione in worry.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Harry asked hesitantly. Hermione nodded her head, and Ginny was grinning like the mad hatter.

"I don't know why you're hyperventilating Hermione. Isn't this a good thing?" She asked. Hermione shrugged.

"It was them that sent this, wasn't it?" Ginny asked, worried that it wasn't Draco but some stranger who had randomly found out that it was Hermione and sent her a note.

Hermione looked up at Ginny.

"No, it's him." She answered. The other three, who weren't clued in at all, shared odd looks.

"What's going on?" Lavender asked.

Ginny filled all three of them in on what had happened, leaving out the name of the person who had written back. Lavender got an excited look on her face.

"So, are you going to tell us who it is?" She prodded. Hermione shook her head, her eyes wide.

"Not bloody likely." She answered. Lavender rolled her eyes.

"You know, I will find out. You may as well just tell me now." She explained. Hermione still shook her head.

"Not going to happen." She replied. Lavender looked like she was about to say something back, when she abruptly closed her mouth and smirked instead. Hermione instantly noticed the difference in features. Ron looked a little annoyed, Harry surprised, and Lavender smug. She didn't know why until she heard the voice come from behind her.

"Hermione, I'll meet you in the Library to study tonight?" Draco's voice made her spin around jerkily.

"Damn, you scared me." She muttered. Ginny grinned.

"Of course she'll be there. Nothing could keep her away." She answered. Hermione turned a deadly glare on Ginny, and Draco smiled.

"I'll see you later then." He said, before walking out of the doors of the Great Hall with some others who had finished breakfast and were heading off to class.

"Why on earth did you say that Ginny? Now I actually have to go!" Hermione moaned, putting her head in her hands. Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Hello, did you read the bloody note? He likes you! You like him! There is not need to avoid him!" Ginny answered. Hermione glared at her again as Lavender cheered and Harry and Ron sat there with their mouths hanging open.

"You what?" Ron nearly yelled. Lavender and Ginny rolled their eyes while Hermione turned red and sank deeper into her seat. Harry was knocked out of his shock by Ron, and started chuckling.

"You know, if you actually wanted that to be kept secret, you shouldn't have told Ginny." Harry pointed out. Hermione turned her glare on him.

"I think I know that now Harry Potter. Don't you lot hate me?" She asked. Harry rolled his eyes and answered before Ron could.

"Hermione, it's been ages since the start of the year, and I can see that he's changed. I couldn't hate you. You're my sister for all intents and purposes; you know that." He replied, smiling at her happily. Hermione smiled back at him, and quickly ate the rest of her breakfast before jumping up out of her seat.

"Come on, Potions first. We can't be late." She hurried, and left the Great Hall, Harry, Ron and Lavender lagging behind her.

-

For both Draco and Hermione, the end of the day couldn't come quick enough. Straight after dinner, Hermione headed off to the library and found, in there usual seat, Draco already sitting there and starting on his homework. She felt for the note in her pocket, which she had written during her last class to give to him and made her way over to the desk.

She withdrew the note and placed it on his book before him. Draco started, for Hermione had been standing behind him and he hadn't noticed her, and picked up the note.

'And I would say "Thank Merlin"'

Draco turned around in his seat to find Hermione nervously standing behind him. He stood up and faced her.

"And then I would kiss you." He replied, dipping his head down and kissing her sweetly on the lips, before pulling back to find a Hermione with slightly glazed over eyes.

"And then I would say, "do it again"." She whispered back. Draco grinned at her, and took her by the waist, pulling her to him so that there chests were pressed together, and kissing her passionately. Hermione raised her arms up and around his neck, holding onto him tightly, not willing to let go.

Eventually, they broke apart, when the need for air became apparent, and smiled at each other.

"And then I would say, "Be my girlfriend, Hermione Granger"." He whispered.

"And I would say yes."

Thanks so much for reading! Make sure you review!

Sarah xo.