My first HP fic, argh. Disclaimers is as usual. Morag is a character mentioned in HP and PS, in Harry's year who was sorted at the first Feast, but who was never mentioned again.



Even I, outside the Gryffindor Common room with Padma, Parvati, and Lavender, winced at the sounds coming out of it.

"I've already told you! I'm going with someone else!" shrieked a female voice.

Lavender and Parvati seemed surprised. "Hermione?" Lavender said wonderingly.

Padma scowled. "That Hermione Granger," she hissed at me angrily. "She's such a drama queen." She seemed to have forgotten her own tantrum a bit earlier to her sister.

"Oh, she's okay," I said, thinking of arithmancy when she'd managed to make sense out of Professor Vector's problems, and explained them to me as well.

Padma scowled again.

"We'd better go," Parvati said, seeing her sister's face. "I'll see what I can do... but you don't want to seem desperate. Don't worry," she hugged Padma. "I don't have a partner for the Yule Ball either."

Lavender gave Padma an encouraging sort of smile as we left for our own common room.

"Cheer up," I said as we entered our dormitory. "We've got another week to go until the Yule Ball."

"You're going with Dean Thomas," she said gloomily, changing into her pyjamas. "You wouldn't understand."

I flushed. "Dean's just a friend," I said quickly. I got into my nightie, and climbed into bed.

"Yeah," Padma yawned. "And my name's Morgana le Fay."

She soon fell asleep, yet I couldn't. I did like Dean, but... I didn't feel anything for him, really. Affection as a friend, perhaps, but nothing beyond that, nothing deeper. Dean was nice, good looking, and could make one laugh. I briefly wondered what was wrong with me.

Padma had been a regular visitor to the Astronomy Tower all this year, yet she couldn't find a date. Maybe I should ask Dean to take her instead? It wasn't as though I needed a partner, really, and Padma wouldn't feel as uncomfortable as me. I resolved to do so if nothing else turned up as I finally fell asleep.



***



"Morag!" Padma ran towards me at lunch the next day. "You won't believe it!"

"What?" I asked. She seemed happy, as did Parvati after I checked the Gryffindor table. Must've found partners, I decided.

"Parvati is going with Harry Potter himself!" she announced breathlessly. "I'm going with Ron - his best friend, you know," she said smugly.

I wanted to add that Hermione was Harry's best friend as well, but stopped when I saw Parvati frowning at Hermione having lunch with her and her sister's partners. Hermione really was quite pretty, I began thinking, then hurriedly stopped myself.



***



As I watched Padma being twirled around the Hall by a Beauxbatons boy, I tried not to flinch at Dean's hand around my waist as we sat. It just didn't feel right, somehow.

"D'you want to dance?" he murmured into my ear.

I nodded, getting up hurriedly. Anything but sitting so close together, and after a few dances, we decided to get drinks.

"Let's skip this one," he suggested, his hold on my shoulders tightening, his eyes following the couples leaving the hall.

"But it's my favourite!" I protested, moving away as the Weird Sisters began to play the next song.

"It is mine also," drawled a voice behind me. "A dance, MacDougal? I'm sure Thomas won't mind," the blond boy smirked, pulling me with him onto the dance floor.

Dean scowled, and I gave him a reassuring sort of smile. He must be Slytherin, I decided after a few turns around the Great Hall. From his familiarity with Dean, Draco must be in my year, and I knew most people in every house but Slytherin by face or name.

"Excuse me," I said, politely. "But I don't believe I know you?"

He quirked an eyebrow. Really, he was rather feminine looking, with that blond hair and hairless chin. "I'm Draco. Draco Malfoy, but call me Draco." He said finally. "Of Slytherin."

As I'd thought. "Morag MacDougal," I introduced myself, wishing that his hand wouldn't rest so low. "Ravenclaw. But you knew that... well, my name, anyway."

"So I did." He seemed amused.

I suddenly realised that I wasn't in the Great Hall anymore. We'd ended up in the Entrance Hall, heading out towards the rose gardens.

"Um," I began, straightening my dress robe.

"What's the matter, MacDougal?" he asked, pressing closer to me onto a nearby wall. "Too good for a Slytherin?"

Since I didn't hold with disliking people merely because of their house, I couldn't say 'yes'. "Uh..." I said, searching for some other reason. The thought of kissing him made my stomach curl. "Snape's coming this way!" And never had I been more glad to see Professor Severus Snape.

"Oh, hush." He murmured, one hand fumbling with my robes, the other pinning me to the wall. This closer, I could detect something stronger than Butterbeer on Draco's breath. "Snape and I are good friends. God, what's the with you?" I had been ignoring him, trying to think of a way to get out of this situation.

"Uh, them," I indicated a discovered couple.

"No it's not," he said, but continued his activities. Draco kissed me hard on the mouth - and all I felt was an urge to push him away.

"Get lost, Malfoy," came a voice - Dean's! "Find your own partner."

"Because I don't like yours, Thomas?" the blond boy sneered, releasing his hold. "She's more than a little frigid." I hid behind Dean.

"Since she was with you, I'm not surprised," Dean said calmly. "Let's go, Morag."

All the way back to the Great Hall, Dean was silent, but he spoke up as we were on the threshold. "Did you like what he was doing?" he asked, so faint that I almost didn't hear him.

"Malfoy? Lord, no!" I exclaimed.

"Then why didn't you fight, or call out, or something?" his eyes were bright with some emotion I couldn't read.

"I knew that Padma would be extremely jealous," I confided, grinning. "She thinks his whole Dark air is irresistible."

Dean stared at me, then broke into laughter. "Okay, I forgive you," he chortled.

"Forgive me?" I said incredulously. "Why should I be sorry? What've I done? Dean, I'm not your girlfriend," I said gently, hoping that he would leave it at that. Badly done, Morag, badly done.

"Well," he began awkwardly. "I did want to ask you..."

I shook my head. "Don't. I like you, but..."

He sighed gustily. "Just friends?" he guessed.

I nodded. He nodded back.

"Oh well," he sighed again, and kissed my forehead, like a brother. It was the first time that I hadn't frozen complete nor flinched at his touch. I decided that I liked him being just a friend.

"I'm awfully sorry." I started to say, but he waved me off.

"Forget it," he said shortly. "Let's dance."

So we did. I actually enjoyed it, him not trying to kiss me, nor anything else. After a while, I realised that the Great Hall was almost empty, and I was resting my head on his shoulder.

"Dean?" I spoke up.

"Uh huh?"

"You know what Malfoy said?"

"What did Malfoy say?"

"That I was frigid. Am I?"

"Frigid just means unresponsive. You were like that to me, whenever I tried to kiss you. I was angry about it for a while, but I thought, if you didn't respond to me, then I can't be the right person for you."

"Is that why you were so calm when I said, you know, that we should just be friends?"

"Yeah. I expected it, but thought I'd give it a shot. I'd rather be your friend than not at all, even if I can't be your boyfriend."

I squeezed him in a hug of gratitude.

"What was that?" he sounded surprised. "That was the first time you'd ever voluntarily done something intimate like that," he said, and patted my head. "You know, this isn't so bad," he said half-playfully. "We should've talked about this earlier."

"Padma wouldn't let me," I told him. "She said that you were a good match."

"And what does Morag MacDougal think?" he asked sombrely, leading me out of the dimming Great Hall as the candles extinguished one by one. "Is she being friends with me because Padma told her to? Or because she actually wants to?"

"Because she wants to," I said firmly, leaving him to climb the stairs to the Ravenclaw common room. "See you tomorrow, Dean."

"Bye, 'rags," he waved, watching me disappear from sight.



***



"I knew I shouldn't have done my Potions homework last night instead of those Arithmancy problems," I said mournfully to Hermione when she found me in the Library after Arithmancy. "I'd somehow managed to mix my timetable up. I thought that I didn't have Arithmancy today."

"Wishful thinking, huh?" she said sympatehtically. "Dean told meyou were here doing Arithmancy, so I thought I'd come down - two people struggling together would be better than struggling on your own," Hermione said cheerfully. "So what did professor Vector keep you for after class?"

I showed her the extra page of problems that Professor Vector had given me. "You're kidding," she said, amazed.

"Wish I was," I muttered.

"Don't worry," she said comfortingly and put her arm around me. "We'll get them done."

But I was more occupied with her arm than Arithmancy problems. My heart and tummy felt funny. Leaning into her slightly -she didn't move, concentrating on the problems- I realised that I could have stayed like that forever with Hermione's arm around me.

"Herm?" At the male voice, I sprang away from Hermione almost guiltily. I turned to see Harry Potter himself and his sidekick, Ron... Westley, I think it was. Something like that, anyway.

"Ron! Harry!" Hermione motioned for them to come towards us. "Meet Morag, from Arithmancy. 'rags, this is Harry and Ron," she introduced us.

"Hullo," I mumbled, wondering when she'd started calling me "'rags". Only Dean did that.

"Uh, nice to meet you," Harry said politely. "It's dinner time, Herm," he turned to her. "Dean told us you were here, so we thought we'd come get you."

"Oh!" Hermione looked startled, but pleased, and gave me a quick smile as she got up. "C'mon, let's go to dinner," she urged me. "We can do them after dinner, or tomorrow - after all, we don't have Arithmancy tomorrow."

We grinned.



***



It was past midnight. I couldn't get to sleep. Every time I shut my eyes, I could see her face and the curl that she never managed to tuck behind her ear. I punched my pillow, and closed my eyes once more.



***



Back at the Library before breakfast. Someone had come in. I was ready to yell at whoever was interrupting, but it was... Hermione.

"Hi," she said softly.

"Hey," I answered warily.

She sat down across from me, and I could smell her shampoo. It made me think of fruits of the summer, and warm sunshine, and days filled iwht bliss with Hermi-

Sorry about that.

"UH," she began carefully. "You know, before Ron and Harry came in..." she paused and our eyes locked. "I was wondering..."

"If?" I asked quickly.

"We... uh, shared, we share..."

"A?"

"A... a moment, I guess," she said bashfully. "It was probably just me, and I'm being stupid," she started speaking very fast. "I'm going to regret this... I'm embarrassing myself... I'll just go now, shall I?" she asked brightly, getting up.

"No!" I cried before I could stop myself. "Hermione, please..." I swallowed. "Please don't go."

"Y-you mean that?" she looked at me incredulously. "You're not just... making fun of me?"

"No," I repeated, less loudly and followed her. "I... I don't know how to say this," I said awkwardly. "But I... I, we I..." I had reached her by now, and I realised how much taller was than me, and just how... brown her eyes were. "I like you," I said finally. "A lot."

"Really?" she half-whispered, and I couldn't help myself but put my arms around her.

"I... I do," I said bravely. "And I..." I hesitated. What if she took it the wrong way? "I do like you... like this." I dived headfirst into a pool of potential embarrassment by giving her a kiss on her cheek. But she moved a little and I found her lips on mine.

"This," she said when we broke apart.

"Is?" I prompted her.

"Is right," she said firmly, and stroked my hair. I felt like I was going to die of happiness. She took a quick glance at her watch. "Breakfast."

"We," I began, unsure of what I was saying.

Hermione looked suddenly shy. "Yeah, are we..."

"I... I guess so."

"Great," she said, her entire being glowing somehow. All because we were... a couple, I guess should be the term. "Just... great."

"'rags," she turned to me as we were about to leave the Library. "Have you ever read 'Hogwarts: A History'?"

"Errr... yes," I lied, resolving to do so as soon as possible. "Of course."

"Oh!" Hermione said happily. "Then you know that story about-" I stopped her with another kiss, a proper, deeper one. When we separated, she took my hand and led me to the Dining Hall with a silly smile on my face.



***



"Where've you been all morning?" Padma hissed at me when I sat next to her at breakfast. "I've been looking all over for you."

"I went to the Library to do some work," I said truthfully. "Say, Padma, have you got a copy of 'Hogwarts: A History'?"

"Yes," she said suspiciously. "Why?"

"Can I borrow it? Like, now?"



I think Hermione's not quite done right. The dialogue seems a bit wooden. See what you think. Please C and C! :)