Hi everyone! Thank you so much for your reviews. I don't think I've got the chance to get back to everyone but I really do appreciate them. Now that I've received 25 after 3 chapters, I'm aiming for 8 per chapter. So I won't update unless I've got 32, lol jokes I probably will but I'm just subtly hinting that some more reviews would be nice ;)

So anyway, here is the next instalment, I hope you like it. Please read and review!

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter, shame really xx

Hermione ran through the ebony hallways angrily. She wasn't tear flushed, she didn't feel that her two timing ex-boyfriend was even worth her crying. But it felt so liberating to give him some stick like that, and she was actually feeling rather proud of her rants. She was smugly smiling to herself inside that she was even able to put up such a fight to Ron that she didn't notice the figure coming up behind her.

"Hermione, you were bloody brilliant out there!" Draco said supportively while spinning her around so that he could envelope her in his arms.

"Why thank you, Mr Malfoy. I do try my hardest." She winked in reply.

"Now come on, we better get back into the room before the competition starts." He suggested while taking hold of her hand so that he could usher her back into the other room.

Hermione was a little disappointed, she was basically just reminded of the real reason that she was there. She was nothing but a little prop for Draco, even though she was falling hard and fast for him. But she knew that he would no way in hell have similar feelings for her, so followed him into the other room.

Draco and Hermione hovered near to the stage where all of the other couples were lining up too. She spotted Ron with his little hoe near to them, but looked the other way to avoid any death glares or just plain awkward eye contact.

"Now let us begin with the competition!" the announcer exclaimed cheerfully, "The first round of the competition is the lovely ladies walking around the stage while the men are seated. Everyone in the room will cheer for the contestants that they like best! It is quite simple actually."

So all of the men quickly ran to their seats so the competition could start, their dates were stood in a line, most of them looking quite nervous. There were about twenty women there, because there were only about twenty Quidditch players and some of them even struggled to get dates.

Hermione was feeling the pressure now. What if she made a total fool of herself in front of all of these good looking and successful men? And what if she completely embarrassed Draco? She was starting to doubt her abilities to do well in this competition, but these nerves were short lived as women were walking onto stage while their names were being read out.

Draco blanked all of the other women prancing around. He was solidly focusing on Hermione, how cute she looked when she bit her lip. How he was falling so madly in love with her over a simple business favour.

"And now we have Miss Hermione Granger, she is here accompanying Mr Draco Malfoy. At the moment Miss Granger works at the Ministry but hopes that one day she can become a Healer. Miss Granger used to be dating Mr Ron Weasley who is also here tonight but found the slimy bastard cheating… Lovely…" the announcer had a look of total and complete confusion on his face. It was obvious that the men had submitted these cards, and Draco certainly wanted the weasel to pay.

Hermione was in hysterics after hearing this, which made her smile even brighter to the appeal of the audience. She twirled around as gracefully as she could muster, most of the audience seemed to be enjoying her little 'performance' except Ron of course who had a look of thunder brewing on his face. The crowd was cheering and chanting for Hermione, apparently they loved her.

As she exited off stage, she felt so hot and buzzing. It was so exhilarating to be up on stage, under the spotlights with the people in the room swooning over you.

"Well done Hermione, you did brilliantly!" Draco said and kissed Hermione on the cheek. Hermione felt even more confused by this, the guy that she liked kissed her on the cheek. Baby steps Hermione, baby steps.

"Thank you. Oh look, they are about to announce which three girls made it through to the final round!" Hermione gasped, still recovering from the intimacy between her and Draco.

"Now then ladies and gentlemen, the top three women into the final round are: Josephine Hart, Lavender Brown and Hermione Granger!" the announcer beamed. Lavender didn't look too surprised; the bitch was probably expecting to be in the top three so she just snogged Ron there in front of everyone. Josephine was a pureblood witch turned model but acted rather modest about making it to the final. Hermione however, was simply lost for words.

"Hermione? Hello? You made it through to the final! Congratulations!" Draco shouted so everyone could hear and once again locker her into a tight embrace and kissed her lightly on the forehead. Hermione finally regained hold of what was going on and simply smiled. She didn't even think she would get this far on the night without crying or breaking down.

"The final round is like a pageant. The three ladies will come up in some nice swimwear," this comment brought a grin to the other guys, "And then we will ask them some questions! It is rather straight forward, like the last round."

Lavender, Josephine and Hermione had to rush backstage to get changed in some rather skimpy swimwear provided for them.

~ Conversation backstage ~

"Hi Hermione, I'm Josephine. It's a pleasure to meet you; I've read so many lovely things about you in Witch Weekly." Josephine greeted warmly.

"Oh why thank you, that's very sweet of you. Well it's nice to meet you too Josephine!" Hermione smiled back while Lavender attention-seeking-ly coughed.

"Oh who are you?" Josephine asked genuinely dumbfounded.

"Who am I? I am Lavender Brown thank you very much!" Lavender huffed and moved to the other side of the room to get changed.

"Don't worry she's like that with everyone," Hermione reassured, "Yeah she was a real bitch in school."

"I can imagine. I heard about the scandal with Ron cheating on you with her. God she is a bitch and easy!" Josephine retorted playfully. Both girls giggled.

"Well we better get ready; good luck out there, not that you'll need it!" Hermione added quickly, she didn't want Josephine to feel offended.

"Oh I'll need all the luck I can get with you as competition!" she complimented in return; it looked like she genuinely meant it.

"I'll see you out there then!" Hermione continued and they both hurried to get ready before the people outside got impatient.

~ In the Room ~

The men were eagerly waiting now. Some of them became rather impatient and started chanting 'WE WANT THE FINAL ROUND.'

"Okay now gentlemen, you can stop with your loud shouting. The final round is about to begin! Our first lady is Miss Lavender Brown." The announcer said rather dully, clearly there was no favouritism here.

Lavender paraded around the stage like a stupid three year old that had just been stung by a bee. She was wearing a tacky tangerine coloured bikini that had tassels in strange places. She moved closer to the announcer for the questioning.

"So Lavender, where are you working at the minute?" the announcer questioned, he was looking quite bored with her already.

"At the moment, I am jobless but I don't need to work as my Won-won has such a good and well paying job."

"Err okay then. So why do you think you should win this competition?"

"Because I am clearly the prettiest girl in the final," she said much to the sniggers of most of the room, "And because Josephine is boring and Hermione is a bookworm who can't get a date." She finished rather proudly.

Lavender was making her exit off stage when suddenly someone stood up abruptly and shouted across the room.

"If Hermione is so unable to get a date, then why is she here with me and you are here with the two-timing weasel?" Draco inquired. Lavender ran off stage flustered while Ron was quietly seething in the corner.

"And now let's continue. Our second contestant is Miss Josephine Hart!" Josephine walked onto stage shyly, but considering her modest entrance she owned the stage without a doubt. She looked so elegant in her silver swimsuit and had her dark sunglasses propped on the top of her neatly arranged hair.

"So Josephine, you are a model correct?"

"Yes I am, I'm currently working on some advertising though." She replied kindly.

"So then, why do you feel that you should win this?" the announcer asked a little more interestedly.

"I don't want to win to be honest. I'd much rather Hermione win because she is such a lovely and deserving person. I only came here to spend time with my husband; this competition was just a little bonus." Merlin, she was modest.

The announcer quickly ushered Josephine off stage so that Hermione could have her turn. Hermione glided onto stage. Her red halter neck bikini suited her so well; it was almost as if it was made for her. She smiled so brightly that it was almost blinding.

"Hermione! You are the final contestant, so I have some questions for you." The announcer cheered, he was looking ten times more thrilled to be in her presence over Lavender's.

"Okay then, shoot!" Hermione replied playfully. She was hoping that she would get the same questions as the other two ladies if she was lucky.

"So Hermione, we already know what you do for a living. So let's have some more 'interesting' questions. Who are you here with?"

"I am here with Draco Malfoy." She answered bluntly, she didn't want this random man that she had met less than an hour ago to dive into her private life.

"Okay, so you and Mr Malfoy, are you dating?" he asked peering into her eyes.

"Well yes," she responded, she was getting nervous now. Almost as if she needed to tell him the truth. How this was all just a charade, how she really loved Draco yet he still thought of her as a business partner.

"Are you sure?" he asked while raising an eyebrow. Hermione couldn't take this interrogation anymore and just had to tell the truth. She glanced over to Draco apologetically.

"Well not exactly. Okay okay, the truth is. Draco just asked me to do this so he could win the competition and so I could get some sweet revenge on that ginger ass over there, but….but… I'm... I'm... errr" she trailed off. Hermione couldn't bring herself to continue the sentence. Everyone in the room was too shocked at her first confession, no way would they be able to handle the second.

"I see, care to finish your sentence, Miss Granger?" the announcer asked.

"I um... I don't want to..." she whispered. But was interrupted by someone else in the room anyway.

"Its okay, Hermione. I'll finish the sentence for you." Draco input. And as if by magic he was standing right next to the stage looking up to her, "I did only ask Hermione to do this as a favour to me. However over these past couple of days... I um..."

"Oh COME ON! Can we just get this over with already?" Ron growled loudly from the back corner of the room to everyone's surprise.

"Keep your barnett on Weasel," Draco spat, "Now as I was saying... Er wait... What was I saying..."

"You were going to confess your undying love for Miss Granger, Mr Malfoy." the announcer cheekily remarked much to the look of shock on Hermione's face.

"Oh right. Well Hermione, I think. I think I'm falling for you..." Draco said directly looking into her eyes.

Hermione was at a loss for words for once. She just stood there frozen.

"I think I am falling for you too, Draco." She replied but their lovey dovey moment was cut short by the next announcement.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I think we need to vote for a winner." The announcer said awkwardly, "We'll base it on the cheers from the crowd." And suddenly Lavender and Josephine appeared onto stage.

"Lavender?" the announcer said, most of the room fell totally silent except Ron who was cheering like his life depended on it. Lavender had a rather sour look on her face. "Josephine?" he continued. Most of the crowd clapped moderately. (We can all guess who is going to win.)

"And finally, Hermione?" he finished. The whole room bar Ron stood up cheering. They were either mesmerized by her beauty or just total suckers for the romantic affair that was taking place."

"That settles it then. Hermione is our winner!" So the whole room erupted in more cheers and shouts. The announcer placed a small crown on Hermione's head and a bouquet of flowers in her hands and then everyone left the stage. So Hermione was just stood there next to Draco.

"Well done, Hermione." Draco smiled warmly.

"Thanks…" Hermione replied, she was feeling tense now after their little display of emotions and everyone was still watching them.

"You know, you didn't just win that crown and bouquet…" he smiled slyly at her while she shot him a questioning look, "You also get this reward." And before Hermione could even think about what he was about to say next he had kissed her. Full on the lips in front of everyone while the hot stage lights were still on them.

Hermione felt so at ease when Draco was kissing her. It felt so warm and safe, unlike Ron's kisses which were just sloppy and disgusting. She dropped the flowers and wrapped her hands around his neck while he put his hands on her waist bringing her closer to him. They felt so carefree, as if it was just them alone. Even though more cheers and clapping was heard from the crowd. Draco and Hermione broke away from each other after someone yelled from the crowd,

"Oh get a room for Merlin's sake!" who could have guessed, it was Ron.

Draco and Hermione simply smiled back at each other. She obviously was more than a prop or charade to him.

~ End of chapter ~

Don't worry its not the end yet! I plan on writing kinda like epilogue chapters after this. I know its quite long, I felt bad because the last chapter was so short. Anyway I hope you liked it and the competition was good! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! I appreciate all of the story alerting but PLEASE a review would be nice!

I kinda hate Lavender too by the way in case you hadn't guessed. Like she really really bugs me! I had to play her in a school play and she was so frickin bitchy its unreal. But I don't hate Jessie Cave, she's cool :) xx (Tom Felton will prevail over all though, all Feltbeats fans would agree ;)) xx

Also, I find it ironic that this was suppose to be a 'on the side' sorta fic to my marriage law one, but everyone seems to be liking this one more! And if you like Marriage Law fics, then please check mine out! I hope you are enjoying this story so far, I will update soon! xxxx

(Don't forget to review! Xx)