In the week following the winter ball Draco kept out of Hermione's way, which actually ended up being easier than he had originally anticipated. Draco split his time between brooding in his bedroom and hanging out in the dungeons. Throughout the week Draco heard Hermione coming and going from the head dorms, but he managed to avoid seeing her. When he was down in the dungeons he also noticed Blaise was rarely present but he refused to dwell on why his friend was nowhere to be seen.

A couple of days before New Year Draco was dragged down to Hogsmeade with his friends. His friends had decided to throw a New Year's Eve Party since they were all at school and somehow Draco had been dragged into the preparations. Draco reluctantly trailed round the shops with his friends, before they headed into The Three Broomsticks for lunch. It wasn't until they were settled in the pub that Blaise's absence was commented upon. When Pansy and Daphne started gossiping about his burgeoning romance with Hermione, Draco made a quick exit to the bathroom.

Draco stayed in the bathroom for nearly ten minutes, hoping that when he returned the subject of Hermione and Blaise would have been dropped. Unfortunately when he returned to the table Blaise had arrived, and he had Hermione with him.

"Hey, you don't mind if Hermione and I join you for lunch do you?" Blaise asked his friend.

"Why would I mind?" Draco shrugged, sitting back down in his seat.

"Great, I'll go and order us something to eat. Sit down Hermione." Blaise said, steering the brunette witch into the empty chair beside Draco.

Draco considered protesting to Hermione sitting next to him, but decided against it. Blaise was his friend and he didn't want to upset him, not to mention the fact that he actually liked Hermione and if she wasn't with Blaise he would have loved to have her sitting so close.

Blaise returned to the table a few minutes later and Draco then endured the worst meal of his life. Every time Blaise and Hermione interacted he wanted to tear them away from each other, and it didn't help that both Pansy and Daphne kept commenting on what a cute couple they made. If this was the way things were going to be from now on Draco feared the rest of the year was going to be hell for him. Watching Blaise and Hermione together was torture and he found himself breathing a sigh of relief when Hermione announced she was leaving.

"I'm off to meet Harry and Ron." Hermione announced as she stood up and put her coat and scarf back on. "I've had a lovely time, thanks."

"It was nice to meet you properly." Pansy smiled at the witch.

"Remember about the party tomorrow night, it would be lovely to see you there." Daphne added.

"I'll think about it. Bye." Hermione leant down and gave Blaise a peck on the cheek before turning and leaving the pub.

"I like her." Pansy announced once she was sure Hermione had left. "For a Gryffindor she's not too bad."

"Yeah, you've struck lucky there mate." Theo agreed. "Granger is a good catch."

"Well I have to admit it's all down to Draco. If he wasn't Head Boy and lived with Hermione then I might not have noticed how lovely she is." Blaise replied with a grin.

"Isn't that nice, Draco the matchmaker." Theo laughed.

"I'm going for another drink." Draco announced, not wanting to hear more about how he had brought Hermione and Blaise together. "Does anyone else want one?"

After taking a drinks order from his friends Draco stalked away to the bar, not realising that as soon as he had left the table the conversation changed.

"I'm not sure this is going to work." Theo said to Blaise. "Draco isn't going to act on his feelings for Hermione as long as he thinks she's with you."

"Yeah, he's just going to mope and brood." Pansy said. "I hate to say this Blaise, but your plan sucks."

"I do have a secondary part of the plan." Blaise admitted.

After the winter ball he had confided in his friends about Draco and Hermione's problem and they all agreed to help him get the couple together. They had initially hoped that just thinking Blaise and Hermione were together would be enough to push Draco into admitting his feelings for Hermione, but it was now becoming clear that wasn't going to happen.

"What's your second solution?" Daphne asked. "Since the whole making Draco jealous has been a massive flop."

"Firstly, it hasn't been a flop. Draco is massively jealous, he's just too loyal to me to do anything about his attraction to Hermione." Blaise argued. "And as for the second part of the plan, I'm going to let Draco see me with another girl."

"You're going to make him think you're cheating on someone you're not even dating." Pansy remarked, puzzled by her friends logic.

"Exactly." Blaise nodded. "We all know I have a reputation as a player so it won't be a complete shock to find me locking lips with another girl."

"How is that going to help Draco and Hermione?" Daphne questioned.

"Because Draco will tell Hermione I'm cheating on her. Hermione knows all about this plan so all she has to do is get Draco to admit he likes her. The next thing you know they're together and tomorrow night they'll be attending the party as a couple." Blaise announced his grand plan with a large grin.

"What if Draco doesn't tell Hermione?" Theo asked. "What if he confronts you? You could end up with a black eye or something if he loses his temper."

Blaise suddenly looked worried as he thought about his plan going wrong. To be honest he'd never considered that Draco would confront him, his first thought was that he would go running to Hermione and warn her off him.

"I'll have to risk it." Blaise shrugged eventually. "The plans all in place, I'll just have to hope Draco reacts the way I hope he will."

"We'll have the ice ready for when you arrive back in dungeons." Theo chuckled, convinced that Blaise's plan would result in him being punched by their blond friend.

"If it gets Draco to admit how he really feels then it'll be worth it." Blaise responded. He didn't particularly want to end up on the end of Draco's fist but he would if it meant his friend would get the girl he wanted.

"Ssh, he's coming back." Daphne quickly stopped the conversation when she spotted Draco heading back to the table.

"Have I missed anything interesting?" Draco asked as he placed the tray of drinks on the table.

"Nah, this lot were just telling me how lucky I am to have Hermione." Blaise said.

Draco grimaced but didn't say anything as he slipped back into his seat. Making sure the conversation didn't continue to be about Blaise and Hermione, Draco quickly changed the subject to Quidditch. Blaise and Theo eagerly latched onto talk about their upcoming games, while Daphne and Pansy contended themselves with whispering to each other and gossiping.

Draco was relieved when Hermione's name wasn't mentioned again while they were in Hogsmeade. The first mention of Hermione was when they got back to the castle and Blaise announced he had somewhere to be, causing Theo to tease him that it clearly involved the Gryffindor witch. Blaise refused to comment as he slipped off, a smirk playing around his lips.

Draco accompanied his friends back to the dungeons, where he stayed with them for another couple of hours. When he did leave to head back to the head dorms he walked quite slowly along the corridors. He didn't know if Blaise was in the dorms with Hermione but if he was he didn't much fancy sticking around to witness them being all loved up.

Draco was nearly at the head dorms when he heard moaning coming from a nearby alcove. Draco immediately knew what sort of moans he could hear and since the moans indicated someone was breaking school rules he prepared to confront the amorous couple. Normally Draco just moved the frisky couples along with a warning to be more careful in future but given his mood he figured he could take his frustration out on the couple, if he was lucky he could even dock a few house points from the other houses.

"What do you think you're doing?" Draco demanded, storming up to the alcove. "This is against school rules."

Draco's scolding stopped abruptly when the two teenagers pulled apart and he realised one of them was Blaise. The girl was a Hufflepuff in their year, who Blaise had been flirting with for some time. Blaise looked anxiously between Draco and the girl, wondering how his friend was going to react.

"Fifty points from Hufflepuff for lewd behaviour." Draco snapped at the girl. "Now get back to your common room."

The girl shot Blaise a sheepish look before turning and fleeing. Blaise watched her go before turning to face Draco. The blond looked furious and Blaise had to work hard not to smirk at the sight, although he was now worrying that Theo might be right and he was in for a good punch.

"I can explain." Blaise started, holding his hands up in defeat.

"You arsehole." Draco spat.

Before Blaise had a chance to respond Draco had raised his hand and thumped him. Cursing Blaise held onto his cheek as blood started pouring from his lip. Draco was a lot stronger than he gave him credit for and the punch had really stung.

"I'm also taking fifty points off you for lewd behaviour." Draco snarled. "I should also take some for cheating but sadly there's no school rule about shagging around behind your girlfriends back. Now get back to the dungeons."

"I'm sorry." Blaise muttered, hoping Theo was true to his word and would in fact have some ice waiting for him.

"It's not me you need to be apologising to." Draco retorted. "Tomorrow you tell Hermione about this or I will."

Blaise inwardly groaned at Draco's ultimatum. His plan had been that the blond would rush off to tell Hermione what he had just witnessed, instead he clearly wasn't planning on mentioning it to her just yet. All Blaise could do now was hope that Hermione would be around in the head dorms and that Draco would crack and tell her everything.

Draco stood watching Blaise as he apologised again and went scurrying off towards the dungeons. The second Blaise was out of sight Draco swore and clutched his hand. The knuckles were starting to bruise from where he had hit Blaise and the hand was throbbing painfully. Hoping there would be some ice in the head dorms, Draco turned and walked the remaining few paces to his rooms.

Once in the common room he headed over to the ice box, where luckily he found plenty of ice. Using magic he created an ice pack and held it over his aching knuckles.

"Oh my god, what happened?"

Draco turned at the sound of Hermione's voice and found the brunette witch standing looking at him, concern etched on her face.

"It's nothing." Draco shrugged. "Just a minor incident."

"It doesn't look like nothing." Hermione noted, walking up to stand in front of Draco. "Here, let me have a look." She said, taking his hand gently in hers.

While Hermione checked out his hand Draco struggled with what to do. He'd meant it when he told Blaise to tell Hermione or he would, but now he was wondering if he shouldn't just tell her now. Maybe it should be Blaise's job to tell her what's he's done but Draco felt bad for not telling Hermione the truth. When Hermione looked up and Draco found himself so close to her, he knew he had to tell her the truth. Blaise may be his best friend but Hermione was special, she deserved to know what had just happened.