AN: Everyone I am so sorry for not updating sooner! I had writer's block for awhile and was really troubled by parings and which characters to show. (I pretty much just think of the plot as I write it, really bad I know but nothing's coming to me). It would be really appreciated if you can give me any personal preferences or ideas!

Apart from having no inspiration, my best friend is going back to Korea next month as well as a close friend of mine, who's leaving next Tuesday... I was really upset and crying so I didn't feel like writing so I'm very sorry!

Anyway, here's the newest chapter and I hope you enjoy it!

Oh yes! Thank you to all the reviewers for the last chapter!

MrsBlaCKwIfeY, krissie92, NotSoSlightlyCrazy, soccercrazyfreak, brianneD, cataloo456

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. I own NADA

Queen Bees and Wannabes

Chapter 4: In Which Everyone is Confused :S

Harry and Ron were perplexed by Hermione Granger, who currently seemed to be avoiding them a LOT. Since the first night when she made her big appearance she had been sitting with Pansy and her group. Even when they had saved a seat for her in class she had sent them an apologetic look and sat with Pansy. PANSY PANSY PANSY PANSY… neither of the two boys had a particular dislike for her before, but Pansy Parkinson had taken their best friend away from them and all they knew was that they wanted her back. And it was all stupid Parkinson's fault.

"Ron"

"Yeah?"

"I miss Hermione." Harry finally decided to risk talking about the taboo subject. When Ron did not reply he started to get nervous. After a minute of awkward silence, at long last Ron decided to reply to the statement.

"Me too." The two sat in awkward silence once more, until Ginny came into the room.

The youngest Weasley practically pranced into the room and not even Ron's evident bad mood could affect her. She was all smiles and was all bright eyes, grinning at Harry. He took the hint.

"Why are you so happy?"

Ginny settled herself onto the nearby couch in the common room, cross-legged and made herself quite comfortable before she answered.

"I just witnessed a secret love affair take place between Hermione and Malfoy." She sang out in a sing song voice, careful not to look at her older brother.

Harry nodded vaguely, before the situation cleared in his mind. Apparently, Ron was also quick to react for once.

"What?!?" The two boys roared out at the same time.

Ginny was smug now that she knew she had their full and undivided attention.

"Hermione and Malfoy were together in the kitchen. YOU KNOW…"

"Are you sure? I mean, Hermione was probably having an argument with him or something. You didn't see them…err…kissing did you?" Harry looked over at Ron, who was all red in the face and quite angry. It wasn't a secret that although he was dating Lavender Brown, he had always liked Hermione a bit more than a friend. Ron that is. Harry thought of Hermione as a sister, and he already had someone that he liked (namely the person who was in this room at this very moment, and NO Harry was not gay). So yes, Harry had a wee bit of a crush on Ginny.

"OF COURSE I'm certain. I mean, she had her eyes closed and he was leaning towards her. What else could they have been up to?" Ginny knew of Ron's little crush on Hermione, but she couldn't resist baiting him. She was also the slightest bit angry at her brother for dating Lavender when Hermione knew that he knew that Hermione liked him. If that made sense at all. To Ginny it was quite simple, be with the person you like. They liked each other but being the coward that he was, Ron had never made any move with Hermione, and she thought that he deserved every bit of the jealousy he was feeling.

For certain, Ginny Weasley was also quite happy for Hermione. She would have never thought her friend possible of dating the Draco Malfoy, Sex God and Prince of Slytherin, but nevertheless she was quite proud of her friend's achievements.

Shock was all over Ronald Weasley's face. Of course, anybody would be, but he had never thought that the girl who had been walking in front of his very eyes would be stolen by his worst enemy. He really had been too negligent of her and was certain that she would wait for him until the end. No, this couldn't have been true. He would go ask Hermione herself. But what if it is, his inner thoughts questioned. He'll be damned if this was true, there was no way he would be handing over Hermione to Malfoy!

Ron angrily got up from the couch and without a word huffed out of the room. He left behind a very concerned Harry and a bright-eyed, eager for action Ginny.

Hermione had just left Muggle Studies when she saw a familiar head of red. (A/N: Hermione takes extra classes whilst the other three had frees just then) She grinned at Ron, but then was worried when he came closer and she noticed the expression of anger on his face.

"Ron? Is something wrong? I haven't seen you fo…"

"Is it true?" Ron cut her off.

Hermione did not know what Ron was talking about. The only thing she had kept a secret from him was her deal with Pansy, but she didn't think he would overreact this much.

Ginny spoke up when she saw the look of confusion on Hermione's face. With a grin, she hinted, "In the kitchen earlier today…"

Hermione's face grew pale. She had seen that?

Ginny smiled at her evilly. Ron stayed quiet and looked at the tiles on the floor.

"Honestly, I thought you would tell me that you and Malfoy got together. How long have you been dating for? You two looked pretty cosy there so it obviously hasn't been too recent."

If possible, Ron's face, though still facing down at the floor tiles, flushed even redder. No one knew though whether it was out of anger or embarrassment at the proposed scene suggested by Ginny.

"Wait― Malfoy and I aren't going out… We didn't kiss Ginny! We didn't even do anything!" Hermione tried desperately to convince the two of her innocence against the accusation. Dating Draco Malfoy? What a preposterous idea! Then why did you anticipate the kiss?

"Why were your eyes closed?" Ginny fiercely questioned. She could not believe that Hermione would deny it. At that moment, Hermione clasped a hand over the younger girl's mouth.

"Please Ginny, just believe me okay? Nothing happened between us." She shot a look at Ginny to tell her, 'we'll talk about this later.'

"Fine, I believe you." Ginny's tone and expression suggested something different, but Ron was too preoccupied in his own thoughts to notice his sister's strange behavior.

At that moment, he had been thinking about how relieved he was that Hermione was not dating Malfoy. Here was his chance. Realizing that Hermione was about to leave, Ron blurted out:

"Hermione! Meet me in the Astrology tower tonight after dinner? I need to talk to you."

Hermione flashed a smile back at the duo and continued on her way. On the surface she seemed calm, but underneath waves of confusion and thoughts were swirling about in her head, making her feel slightly sick and nauseous.

Throughout the day, Hermione busied herself in her work. In one afternoon, she had completed three essays, all 6 inches long for the subjects: Potions, Ancient Runes and Charms in that order. She had also finished the Arithmancy worksheet they had been given just that day. Hermione even read ahead in History of Magic and wrote some practice paragraphs for essays.

Normally, she would be so into her homework that she often forgot about the time. She wished for that now. However, most of her classes had just had tests and so there wasn't really much homework to keep her occupied. For once in her life Hermione regretted finishing all her work too early, because now she had absolutely nothing to do. She wished to busy herself with homework so that maybe, just maybe, she would end up forgetting about the appointment with Ron later on. She felt guilty at this but she really didn't want to 'talk' with him.

Strangely, Malfoy had not said anything else all day to her, even though most of their classes were together. She wondered whether this was a good or bad sign. Pansy and Aira were both in her classes too, and each lesson they had rather aggressively forced her to sit with them, not letting them near Harry or Ron (for which she was thankful).

Though Pansy and Aira had only being friends with her for two weeks, they had known immediately when something was not quite right about Hermione.

"What's wrong Mione?" Aira asked the brunette with a worried expression.

Hermione couldn't really tell Pansy and Aira that she was dreading a meeting with Ron, so she just laughed it off.

During dinner Hermione sat with the Slytherins as she had for the past two weeks now and sneaked looks at the Gryffindor table. She only had a mere bite here and there to eat but nobody seemed to notice except for Blaise Zabini. Hermione's permanent spot was next to Blaise now, and Crabbe and Goyle were made to move down one spot.

"Why aren't you eating?" Blaise raised his left eyebrow and looked at her questioningly, "You're not on a diet are you?"

"Nah, I don't feel hungry. I had a really big lunch." Hermione lied.

Blaise went back to shoving food at top speed down his throat (all the while still maintaining perfect etiquette of course, as all high society Slytherins were brought up to do). Hermione breathed a sigh of relief and continued to prod her half-eaten potato on her plate.

It was now after dinner and Hermione slowly trudged up the stairs to the Astrology tower. Ron was already there waiting for her.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting, Ron." Hermione tried to act as normal as possible.

"Me and Lavender broke up." Ron said quickly, at the same time.

"Lavender and I…" Hermione softly corrected him, and then said a little bit louder, "I'm sorry to hear that." Warning bells were ringing loudly in her head, she knew where this conversation was heading.

"You don't need to be. I broke up with her. Our relationship was going downhill. She wasn't the girl for me." Ron looked at her with pleading eyes. He then took a deep breath.

"Hermione…You are the girl I like. Will you be my girlfriend?"

Hermione hesitated not knowing what to say. Ron mistook her reaction as shock, and quickly assured her:

"Err… I mean, do you want to go out with me? To just um… and if we both have mutual feelings then…we could be… girlfriend and boyfriend?"

Once upon a time, this would have made Hermione over the moon and be ecstatically happy, but now she could only think of how much she did not want him. She didn't want to hear his confession. She didn't want to go on a date with him. She didn't want to become the girlfriend of Ronald Weasley. And most importantly, she, Hermione Granger, did not like him. This realization shocked her. For as long as she could remember, Hermione had always stood in the shadows watching Ron as he had several girlfriends, wondering when he would finally notice that she was right before his eyes. Maybe even a month ago she would have even given an arm and leg to hear him say this to her, but now… now she was over him.

"Ron, I'm sorry. I don't have the same feelings for you as you do for me." Hermione watched as Ron's face fell. She felt so guilty, but now that he had realized his feelings it was too late for 'them'.

"Is there someone else?" Ron angrily grabbed her by her shoulders, shaking her slightly. His voice was filled with sorrow.

Again Hermione felt a pang.

"I don't know. But I'm really sorry; I just don't have feelings for you anymore."

Hermione didn't know why she answered 'I don't know'. She didn't like anybody but she supposed it provided her with a reason to turn him down. Perhaps it helped to soften the blow on his self-esteem. Deep down somewhere the inner Hermione knew that this wasn't true; there was someone that she could possibly like. Feelings were so damn confusing.

Without wanting to continue the conversation further or turn it into a screaming match, Hermione turned towards the door and ran.

She stood in front of the mirror, her hair down and looked at her reflection. The pale face in the moonlit reflection betrayed her thoughts. She sighed, she was so easy to read. Hermione wondered what had caused her to turn down Ron. Rather, more accurately, why she no longer had feelings for him. Draco Malfoy, Hermione hated her inner voice. As much as she wanted to ignore the name, he soon entered her thoughts.

Hermione checked the time by looking at the reflection. The clock that hung on the wall (in the reflection) showed a short hand just a little past 12, and the long hand where the 4 was. She flipped the image in her head. It was 11:40pm. She knew that Malfoy was asleep by now, because the next day he had a Quidditch match against Ravenclaw and he always made sure he was properly rested before the game. This was one of those good days where Hermione didn't have to worry about him sneaking a girl into his room and making lots of noises to keep her awake. She didn't even want to think about what he was doing during those times.

Silently, she tiptoed into their common room and soundlessly opened the adjoining door to where Draco Malfoy slept.

He lay on a massive four poster bed, and Hermione was surprised to find that the décor was not green, as she had always thought it would be. Instead, a deep rich brown enveloped the sleeping figure and Hermione had a strange want of going under the covers and curling up next to him. The brown just looks too inviting, Hermione chose to blame that thought on Malfoy's choice of manchester.

Hesitantly, Hermione reached the edge of the bed. With slow fingers, she softly brushed the blonde hair away from his eyes. They seemed at peace and did not seem threatening at all when they were closed. Slowly, Hermione bent down.

I'm just testing my reaction. No one will ever find out about this…I just need to know if…Hermione froze at this thought, if I like him or not.

Hermione lowered her face further. She supported her weight with her arms on either side of Malfoy, and a knee propped onto the very edge of the bed. She prayed that the position would hold. She did not fancy Malfoy waking up because she had just collapsed on top of him in his sleep. As her face inched closer to his, Hermione could feel her heartbeat get faster and faster. Badump…badump…dadump…there was that familiar feeling of a first crush. Hermione knew her answer; she didn't need to continue this. But the Gryffindor couldn't help herself as she closed her eyes and pressed her own lips to his.

The kiss was not more than a slight touch, but apparently, Malfoy was a light sleeper. Hermione looked in horror as the pair of eyes that were closed before she had kissed him was now open. The silver orbs were the last thing she saw before she fell on top of him and then tore herself off the bed. For the second time that night she bolted back into the comfort of her room, right across from his.

Hermione Granger was dead. She had no idea how to face him tomorrow. Thinking about Avada Kedavras and other jinxes he might attempt to use, she fell into a dreamless sleep.

So there you have it. PLEASE offer me some suggestions and ideas for either the plot or pairings!! I will love you forever :D

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