Blaise was wandering the halls late Sunday night, unable to sleep because he was too busy thinking. Tomorrow should prove to be an interesting day. It was the day that the other bets were supposed to go into affect. He wondered briefly how he'd gotten so lucky. He'd been the only one to escape without having a bet to fulfill.

Normally this would've provided great amusement for him and Draco, but the blonde boy had been in a horrible mood lately, and it was becoming dangerous to talk with him. The whole school was making bets on when Hermione would lose her temper and hex the Head Boy's balls off. They'd always drawn sparks off each other, but now it was worse than ever!

Blaise finally headed for bed, his spirits high as he anticipated the drama that would happen the next day. Maybe he'd even have an opportunity to torture Draco a little more!

Little did he know that tomorrow things would change. For tomorrow, Blaise would learn that things are never as they seem.

Hermione had been in the Head's Common Room, triple checking her homework, when Draco had stormed in. Normally they patrolled together, and when they finished, they would sit in the Common Room together and laugh about the students they came across. But since she'd changed the schedule, he had hardly been speaking to her. This evening, however, he seemed to have something on his mind, seeing as how he stood by the couch staring at her. She offered a hesitant smile, and waited for him to speak. When he didn't she asked. "Did you need something, Draco?"

He scowled at her. "No! What could I possibly need from you?" Then he turned on his heel and went into his room, slamming the door closed.

Hermione felt tears forming in her eyes. She wasn't sure what she'd done, but all of a sudden he was acting like he hated her again. It hurt, especially considering all the hopes she'd been harboring. He'd gone from being friendly, at times almost flirting with her, to wishing she'd fall off the face of the earth.

Maybe something was wrong with his mom. Maybe he'd heard some bad news, or maybe she'd done something. Hermione was slowly driving herself crazy, wondering what she could've done to upset him. She decided to talk to some-one. Some-one who knew him: some-one that would know his secret thoughts. Maybe Crabbe or Goyle. No, that wouldn't work. Besides the fact that they weren't likely to know, even if they did, they'd never share the information with her. Plus, how would she get to them?

Maybe Blaise! She thought. He was still a prefect, so it would be easy enough to arrange patrol duty with him, thereby giving them the perfect opportunity to talk. Plus, he was one of Draco's best friends. If any one would know what was wrong, he would!

With those thoughts in mind, Hermione went to bed. She'd get on that first thing tomorrow morning.

Monday morning dawned bright as any day ever was. Several students in the Slytherin House were up early. But none as early as Blaise Zabini. He'd wanted to make sure he had a front row seat for the fireworks this day. Slytherins weren't known for being formally cordial to each other, so it didn't disappoint him too much that when they left for breakfast, Goyle still hadn't found it necessary to kiss anyone.

That would all change soon enough, he knew. For the teachers were especially notorious about being polite and wishing their students good morning. Personally, Blaise was holding out great hope that it would be Professor McGonagall, especially seeing as how they were scheduled for Transfiguration first.

But alas, that was not to be. Indeed, it was almost better. Who should happen to be walking out of the Great Hall, at the same time they were entering, than Headmaster Dumbledore, himself!

Ever the polite, and cheerful one, the Headmaster smiled and spoke to each of them in passing. "Ah, how are you, Mr. Zabini? Fine day, is it not, Ms. Parkinson. Good Morning, Mr. Crabbe, Mr. Goyle!"

No sooner had those words left his mouth than Goyle's face contorted with horror. But he was powerless to resist, as his body forced him to obey the bet. Goyle threw his gorilla-like arms around the Headmaster, and planted a wet kiss, directly on the man's lips.

Dumbledore, to his credit, didn't hex the poor boy. Indeed, he took it all in stride. Merely, smiling and wishing them an enjoyable breakfast before taking his leave. He did walk away a little more quickly than normal, however.

The students who'd been lucky enough to witness the event were quickly looking around with wide eyes. No doubt wondering if they'd gone crazy and started imagining things.

Shocked silence filled the hall for all of a moment, before the first burst of laughter could be heard. But once it started, it spread, until everyone, even those who didn't see what happened (but had been quickly informed by others) were nearly rolling in the floor they were laughing so hard.

Goyle's expression was murderous, but to his credit he didn't run away. In truth, he couldn't. Too many people were between him and the exit, and none of them appeared to be ready to move just yet.

But as enjoyable as that was, it didn't compare to lunch. Crabbe had avoided his bet that morning, merely because Millicent didn't wake in time to eat breakfast, but he was not so lucky concerning the noon meal.

Both Millicent and Potter showed up, right on time. Poor Crabbe's was powerless to fight the bonds of the bet. He wasn't even smart enough to plan what he was going to say, so just ended up blurting things out.

It was in the middle of lunch, when he stood and cleared his throat, trying to gain everyone's attention.

"Excuse me, Millicent, but there's something I must tell you."

She stopped talking and looked at him expectantly. "Yes?"

He grimaced, but continued in a loud voice. "I like you, Millicent. You are so masculine and buff, that it indulges my taste in guys, while allowing me to have a girl-friend."

That being said, he all but ran across the hall, till he was standing right in front of Harry Potter. Without a word, he kisses the stunned Gryffindor, right on the lips.

Luckily, well at least for Potter, the kiss only lasted maybe half a second, because that was all the time it took for Millicent to regain her composure, grab her wand, and toss a curse at Crabbe that knocked him across the room, and into the wall: leaving him quite unconscious.

By the time the teachers came down and interfered, most students were in an uproar. The Slytherins were more embarrassed than anything else. Crabbe's and Millicent's actions had made their house a laughing stock. If the expression on Professor Snape's face was any indication, they would hear of his displeasure.

Thankfully, Professor McGonagall took charge. She conjured a stretcher for Crabbe, to send him on his way to the hospital wing. Then, she hollered for the students to settle down. "Silence!" She waited until they'd obeyed her command. "Now, then. I'm sure you all were highly amused by this display, but I want to make it clear to you that it was disgraceful behavior, and those involved will be punished. The rest of you will gather your belongings and head to class. This meal is finished."

Hermione had been on her way to breakfast that morning when she'd come across two first years who were trying to hex each other. Luckily, they didn't know any valid curses, so nothing happened, but it was still her duty to deal with them. Draco had been behind her, and he stopped to help.

They did their duty of taking points, and explaining to them that if they were caught again, owls would be sent to their parents. Just as they were about to send them on their way a very unconscious Crabbe floated by, followed by a few Professors.

Draco stared after his friend in concern, because there were large boils covering every visible inch of skin, and large tentacles were sprouted all over his face.

He looked at Hermione questioningly and she nodded. "Go ahead, Draco. I've got theses two. Go check on your friend."

As he was rounding the corner Draco heard her tell the two boys that they'd just seen a perfect example of what could happen with curses and hexes. He couldn't help but smile. Hermione was going to harp on those boys until they were properly contrite. He certainlydidn't envy them. Maybe they'd wise up and apologize to each other. Then again, they were both in Slytherin, so probably not!

The hospital room was rather crowded when Draco first arrived. Madame Pomfrey was fussing a storm as she bustled around, gathering potions and trying to determine exactly what had happened.

He barely managed to step out of the way, as she went hustling by. "Professor McGonagall, do you know which curse she used?"

It was then that Draco noticed Blaise standing in a corner, with Pansy and Goyle. "I do." Blaise volunteered. "It was the furnunculus curse."

"That only causes boils, but how on earth did the tentacles come about?"

Pansy volunteered that information. "I think I heard her cast the Jelly Legs Jinx first, but it didn't seem to be affecting him, so she said the other."

"Ah, of course!" Madame Pomfrey exclaimed. "I remember now. Something about mixing those two together causes boils, as well as tentacles. Thank you for your help, now I must ask everyone to step out for a moment, so I can check the rest of his body."

The students quickly rushed for the exit, followed by Professors.

Draco grabbed Blaise and asked. "What happened?"

"An excellent question, Mr. Malfoy." Dumbledore appeared beside him. He was flanked on either side by Professors McGonagall and Snape. All three adults looked extremely determined to hear the answer to Draco's question. Blaise groaned. This did NOT look good.

"Professors…I can explain!"

A/N: What can I say, but 'Thank You' for all the reviews: You guys are awesome, and a big encouragement. I believe in giving credit where credit is due, and I didn't know the name of the curse that Millicent used from the top of my head. I found that particular information on mugglenet dot com (sorry, keeps erasing it when I type webpage in correctly)

A/N (#2): BTW-sorry so long for update, went chasing a side rabbit (had to write a quick one-shot for Easter) and it will be a few days, probably at least till next week before I update again, because family's going to TX for bro's graduation from Air Force! But I will be back!!!