A/N: I shall just crawl into a hole now, shall I? Sorry for the really huge delay in posting this, and don't shoot me as I say that there's not a lot of Dramione interaction in this one. The next chapter will though!

Hermione:

"Did you get outstanding on your latest essay?" Ron asked the moment Hermione saw him.

"What?" Hermione asked absentmindedly.

"Because you're always outstanding to me." He said with a dramatic brandish of his arm, nearly smacking a poor first year on his head.

Hermione couldn't help but laugh as it dawned on her what he was trying to do – pick-up lines, probably for the purpose of asking a date for the Christmas ball that would be held in Hogwarts in a matter of days. "That was bad, Ron. It hardly even made sense."

"Yeah, I did tell you, mate." Harry came up from behind, patting Ron's shoulder in sympathy. "Besides, that's a pointless question to ask Hermione."

"And I doubt you'll have any problem finding a date, no matter how you ask." Hermione added dryly. The three of them had garnered some sort of a celebrity status from all that had happened during the war.

Ron looked visibly deflated, but he brightened up the moment they entered the great hall. The tables were laid with festive food thanks to the upcoming celebration, and the platters of ham and cheese, bowls of stew and plates of dessert did indeed look delicious.

"That aside, you do look quite..." Harry paused, looking at Hermione. "Gleeful. What happened?"

Gleeful was quite an apt description of how she currently felt. After all, she had just managed to one-up Draco Malfoy in his own game, even if she risked a backlash. She wondered what the reaction to the incident had been. If only she'd been in the same class. She suppressed the urge to smirk, or let out an incredibly unbefitting victory laugh. Of course, she couldn't just tell Harry any of that – the head girl wasn't supposed to go around pranking people.

"I was just-"

"There you are," A familiar voice interrupted what was going to have been Hermione's excuse for her… glee. "I've been trying to find you."

Hermione's eyes immediately went toward the source of her glee. Her gaze lingered on Draco's neck – which was tieless. She raised her eyebrows. She'd expected the wizard to have undone the charm and gone on with the day as if nothing was wrong.

"Yes, Malfoy?" Hermione spoke before either Harry or Ron could say anything, with some trepidation. Did he have to come up to her now, during dinner, when the great hall was the most crowded and her friends were standing right there? She could already sense some of the more gossip-minded students turning to observe what was going on, and being in the spotlight for a reason like this…

"Back to that, I see." Draco gave her a hard look, and the tone in his voice promised that she was not going to be let off the hook that easily. He reached into his robes and Hermione's eyes widened. Surely, he wouldn't do anything as drastic as calling her out on it?

"Well, Malfoy, what do you need?" Harry asked, seemingly indifferent. Next to him, Ron marched up to Draco, as if trying to shield Hermione from him. Hermione appreciated the sentiment behind his action, but couldn't help rolling her eyes and sidestepping the boy.

"I was just trying to return something Hermione left behind." Draco stated casually, dangling an incriminating Gryffindor tie in front of Hermione for all to see.

Hermione drew in a sharp breath. Of course, she should have known Draco would make use of the chance to make things difficult for her. She'd pretty much supplied the ammunition for her own death by choosing a Gryffindor tie – although it was also the house that would have the greatest impact.

"W-Why would you have her tie?" Ron spluttered, while Harry simply looked knowing. Hermione swallowed, wondering how things had ever ended up like this. The great hall erupted into murmurs, and Hermione had am extremely strong hunch as to what they were discussing.

"It's not mine." She said quickly, shooting Draco a challenging, warning look, before he could make things worse. Hermione wasn't lying – the tie indeed wasn't hers.

"That's strange," Draco drawled out, sneaking her the slightest hint of a smirk. "I haven't met any other Gryffindor who removed her tie in my presence today."

Hermione stiffened at the (fake) situation Draco was setting up (and the blatant ignoring of her warning). If she didn't go along with this, Draco would exacerbate everything and perhaps even reveal everything now – and that would only be Hermione's loss. It was clear that right now, winning their little game was his priority.

Ron gaped, turning red. "What? Why did she-"

"I was feeling hot." Hermione interrupted quickly, internally wincing at her choice of words. Harry shot her a strange look.

"A problem you get often, I'm sure." Draco gave a seemingly genuine smile, which probably shocked those who saw it. Of course, the fact that he was flirting with her in front of everyone probably also contributed to that. But, Hermione concentrated only on his eyes, which betrayed his mirth at her discomfort. It clearly spelt out revenge, and amusement while doing so.

"Well, as you can see, I have my tie with me so that can't be mine – and I don't have yours either." Hermione felt herself flush in spite of herself as she rambled on. "So, my guess is, someone decided to prank you with a colour-changing charm."

"You seem quite knowledgeable about this." Draco commented, and it was obvious to all from his tone that he implied the witch had something to do about it. "Why don't you help me undo this charm?"

So he was calling her out, albeit indirectly. Hermione felt like yanking his hair out as he shot her an infuriatingly convincing quizzical look. He picked the wrong things to be subtle about – although maybe she hadn't exactly been squeaky clean either in this respect. When had this plan to slowly bring out their relationship to the public become a competition anyway?

"You're just lazy, aren't you?" Hermione gave what she thought to be a reasonably believable scoff in response to his statement. Nevertheless, she reached out a hand for the tie, which Draco passed. She'd better get this over and done with before he said anything else.

With a quick wave of her wand, she wordlessly cast the counter-charm and practically shoved the tie back into Draco's hands.

"Maybe," Draco shrugged flippantly and started to walk away. "Or maybe, I just enjoy watching you."

Hermione hid the blush that threatened to rise. Thankfully, Ron seemed to not have noticed anything amiss in that statement – although Harry…

"Are you not even going to thank Hermione for wasting five minutes of her life?" Ron said from beside her, and Hermione wanted to strangle him. He was giving Draco the perfect chance to do something.

"Ah yes, where are my manners?" Draco turned back to face them, throwing Hermione a wink. "Thank you… darling."

As Ron started spluttering and Harry, who had been oddly passive, coughed, Hermione decided there and then that tearing Draco's hair out the next time they were alone was an increasingly appealing idea.

Forget subtlety. She was pretty sure this qualified as blatantly obvious. Anyone who didn't get it had to be in denial, or simply dense.
~~~

Harry:

Harry knew for a fact that there was something fishy going on between Hermione and Malfoy. He'd been trying not to think about the conversation he'd had with Hermione a about Malfoy, feeling bad about how it suggested a lack of trust in one of his best friends. But now that he thought about it, he was quite sure that while Hermione had laughed at the idea, she hadn't outright denied it. That little piece of disturbing information, added on with the even more disturbing encounter with Malfoy at the Great Hall today…

He groaned at the thought, running his fingers through his hair in irritation. There was no doubting it. Malfoy had been flirting with Hermione, and Hermione hadn't seemed to mind one bit. In fact, she'd even blushed.

"Harry?" The shadow of a figure appeared in front of him. He flinched for a moment, before realising who it was as she stepped into the warm glow of the fireplace.

"Hi Ginny." Harry shifted to the right of his armchair, allowing Ginny to sit next to him. They both watched the crackling fire before them and stayed silent for a while, simply enjoying each other's presence. Was it possible that Hermione and Malfoy could feel the same way about each other? Harry sighed.

"Out with it, what's on your mind?" Ginny asked, giving Harry a pointed look.

He blinked. He should have known that Ginny could tell something was wrong. Perhaps, he should ask her for an opinion – maybe Hermione shared more with her or she'd picked up some kind of sign exclusive to females?

"I was just wondering if you think Hermione is acting strangely lately." Harry admitted.

Ginny hesitated for a moment. "Not exactly strange, but she has been spending more time with the Slytherins lately."

"Malfoy. You see it too, right? It's like they're dropping hints everywhere, but not outrightly confirming it! I mean first, he comes up to her randomly, and then there's the necklace, the nails, the tie… but I can't believe it; it's just too odd and impossible. Do you think it's some sort of long drawn prank?" Harry asked, almost crazily at the last part.

"No. I think it's possible." Ginny stated simply, and Harry stared agog at her for a while. "Even before the blatancy of this past week, you could see they've been getting along. I think whatever relationship they have has been going on for a while now."

"Q-quite a while?" Harry asked, trying to search his mind for possible hints to that. Why hadn't Hermione said anything? He felt slightly sick at the thought that Hermione might have been hiding something from them for so long. "But what about Ron?"

"Ron?" Ginny asked, obviously confused. "I'm pretty sure he and Hermione were never going to work out. Wasn't he asking someone else to the ball?"

"Well yes but… Are you saying that you don't mind that Hermione's dating Malfoy?" And that this has apparently been going on for quite some time? Harry asked weakly.

"He's not as much of a prat now. So no, I don't." Ginny shrugged. "I'm pretty sure Hermione can handle him. In fact, I think he's good for her. She seems a lot happier lately."

"I know that Hermione can take care of herself, but it's Malfoy!" Harry threw Ginny a long-suffering look while trying to ignore the second part of what Ginny had said. Some part of him refused to let bygones be bygones - Malfoy had been torturing Hermione for so many years and Harry just didn't understand. "What does she even see in that slimy git?"

"Intellectual stimulation?" Ginny suggested dryly, earning a look of disgust from Harry. "If you're so hung up about it, we can ask her later. Or you could confront Malfoy to make sure he's serious."

"Maybe." Harry gave a resigned sigh, throwing his head onto the back of the chair. While he wasn't for the relationship, he knew Hermione's stubbornness well enough to know he really couldn't do much to change the witch's mind. Ron, on the other hand… "Should we bring Ron?"

"Probably, but we should let Hermione explain it herself." Ginny said, leaning on Harry's shoulder.

Harry nodded. He needed some form of explanation himself, actually.

"Yeah, we'll go do that as soon as possible," Harry smiled, feeling somewhat better. He leant down to lightly peck Ginny on her lips. "It's distracting me from you."

Draco:

Draco kept his expression as indifferent as usual throughout the rest of the meal as he returned to his place at the Slytherin table. He was used to pointed fingers and gossip, both the flattering and the demeaning. Compared to what he'd faced at the start of the year, this was… downright positive.

Anyone looking at him might not believe that he'd been flirting with Hermione Granger, Gryffindor's princess, just a few minutes prior. There was no sign betraying his satisfaction at turning the tables on Hermione.

He had got a few odd looks from his housemates, but he'd shrugged them off and averted their questions easily enough. Blaise, Daphne and Pansy seemed to suspect something, but their opinions – whether approving or not – didn't really matter to him either way. The ones that did were those of his parents and Astoria.

Astoria – who'd just caught up to Draco as he made his way to the head girl's common room.

Draco kept his face blank as he surveyed the girl standing in front of him. She was a sixth year, not quite as bright as Daphne, but was surprisingly kind from what he knew of her. They'd spoken once or twice, but that was usually in the company of all their housemates and their interactions had never gone further than that.

If Draco hadn't fallen for Hermione, he probably wouldn't have minded an arranged marriage with her. But, as it was…

Draco watched as Astoria hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to begin the conversation. He took slight pity on her, and in an uncharacteristically blunt fashion, started it instead.

"Are you fine with the marriage not happening?"

"Um, yes." Astoria blinked, presumably shocked by his lack of subtlety.

"That's good." Draco nodded. "Would it be possible for you to express your disinterest to your family?"

"You know how it works, but I can try." Astoria said, clasping her hands together as she looked down.

"Thank you." Draco said simply, beginning to walk away from this business transaction of a conversation.

"Hermione Granger is a nice girl." Astoria called out, blushing a little. "I guess I just want to say that I support the two of you because I don't really believeinthemudbloodthing."

Draco paused as he turned back to look at Astoria in surprise. The Greengrasses had never been as outspoken as the Malfoy in their beliefs, but from his interaction with Daphne, he knew that their parents did think the same way. If it wasn't for the war and everything happening… If Astoria had made such a remark to him scarcely a year ago, she would have found herself shunned from pureblood society and possibly, persecuted as a blood traitor.

How everything had changed.

"Good for you." He gave her a small smile before walking away.

Right now, the only thing on Draco's mind, aside from how pleased he was that things seemed to be working out, was Hermione Granger. He whispered the password to the shared common room of the heads, letting himself in.

A/N: I hope Astoria is believable enough; I based her character on the pottermore article about her. And I apologise for the sort-of cliffhanger as well. I hope you review this anyway, even if it's to shout.