Two chapters in one week!?

You're welcome. ;)

She seems to have an invisible touch yeah
She reaches in, and grabs right hold of your heart
She seems to have an invisible touch yeah
It takes control and slowly tears you apart.

-Invisible Touch by Genesis

Hermione woke up feeling like a new person the next day; it was amazing what a good romp in the sack could do for a girl's view on the world. Well, that and the fact that she had a pretty good feeling about the talk that she intended to have with Blaise. Theo had told her that she wouldn't regret it, and she believed him. She thought that the most difficult part of the whole thing would be actually getting Blaise alone; he had a tendency to avoid her. She had just come out of the bathroom freshly showered and dressed when she saw the object of her thoughts sitting on the couch, reading a book.

"Blaise?"

Blaise looked up form the book and stared at her for a moment before he finally spoke, "Granger."

Hermione narrowed her eyes at the use of her surname, "What are you doing here; where are your cohorts in crime?"

Blaise went back to his book, "Theo told me to meet him and Draco here, but that was thirty minutes ago; I'm about ready to leave."

Hermione grinned at that; this was Theo giving her the opportunity to talk to Blaise.

She made her way around the couch and sat down on the opposite side from him, "Well, since you here, I was hoping that we could talk."

Blaise looked up from his book again and quirked an eyebrow at her, "You want to talk?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Yes, it's this thing where people open their mouths and sounds come out."

She saw his lips twitch into an almost smile at her snarky comment, "Ok, I'll bite; what do you want to talk about, Gra-"

He stopped when when she growled at him, "Stop calling me Granger!"

Blaise full on smiled now, "That's your name, isn't it?"

"Not to you, it's not!" She barked, "To you I am Princess, Love, Mia Bella, Hermione, but not Granger! You haven't called me that since the beginning of the year!" Hermione stood up and started pacing; she did that when she was frustrated.

Blaise put his book on the table, "Ok, Hermione; What do you want to talk about?"

Hermione stared at him for a moment. This was not her Blaise at all; he was so cold and detached when he spoke to her. She couldn't remember him being that way with anyone before and that's all he was towards her. That hurt her more than she cared to admit.

Blaise rolled his eyes when she didn't say anything, "Merlin's sake, Granger; just spit it out!"

Hermione flinched at his tone and looked at him like he had just kicked her puppy, "Who are you?" She whispered.

"What?" Blaise barked.

"Who are you?" She said a bit louder. The good feeling she'd had this morning was now just a distant memory.

Blaise barked out a laugh, "What the bloody hell are you talking about, woman?"

"Were you only nice to me because I was shagging you?" She asked.

Blaise looked at her in disbelief as he got up and went to stand right in front of her, "Is that what you think?"

He was so close, Hermione had to back up so she could look him in the eye, ""What else am I supposed to think, Blaise? You don't talk to me anymore, and when you do, you are so...distant and right now you are just being downright hostile; and to think that I actually felt something for you!"

Blaise's eyebrows shot up to his hairline, "You what?"

Hermione took another step back, "Why the bloody hell do you think I ended things with us? It wasn't because I didn't like you or what we were doing; it was the exact opposite, actually. I was starting to have real feelings for you and they were getting stronger every damn day, so I had to put a stop to it before I fell so hard that I couldn't come back from it! I know that nothing real can ever happen with us because we come from two very different worlds, and so I just needed time to sort out these damn feelings. If I had known that this was how you would treat me afterwords, I would have just dealt with the them. I never wanted us to stop being friends, Blaise. This cold reception that you seem to save just for me is killing me."

Hermione sighed in defeat and a tear rolled down her cheek. She closed her eyes to try and fight back the tears, and when she opened them again, she jumped when she saw that Blaise was standing right in front of her.

He brushed away a tear with his thumb and cupped her cheek, "Don't cry, mia bella," He said softly.

Hermione leaned into his touch, "I miss you," she whispered.

"I miss too." He said.

"You do?"

He let out a short laugh, "I've been miserable this last month."

"Then why have you been so distant?"

"Because I'm a fool. I thought you'd grown tired of me and my pride was hurt; you have no idea how much you've affected me, mia amata." (My lovely.)

Hermione gave him a small smile, "So, you don't hate me?"

Blaise chuckled and wrapped her in his arms, "I couldn't hate you if I wanted to, and believe me, I think it would be easier if I did."

Hermione melted in his embrace; she'd started to think that she'd never again get to feel his arms around her. They stood like that in complete silence for a few moments just holding each other, and then Blaise kissed the top of Hermione's head, "I've missed you so much, Il mio amore." (My love)

At that moment, the door to the common room swung open and Theo and Draco walked in. Theo looked at the scene in front of him and grinned. Hermione glanced at him and gave him a bashful smile and he winked at her.

Draco looked at the scene and scowled, "Che cazzo , Blaise ? Ho pensato che avresti ottenuto oltre il vostro piccolo errore di giudizio ." (What the fuck, Blaise? I thought you'd gotten over your little lapse in judgement.)

Blaise sighed in irritation and gently pried Hermione off of him, "Why don't you go to breakfast, love? We'll see you soon."

Hermione knew an argument was about to ensue between the Slytherins, so she was quick to comply, "Alright."

As Hermione walked passed Theo she reached out and squeezed his hand, "Thank you."

Theo smiled, "Anytime, love."

Draco sneered at the pair, and Hermione completely ignored Draco as she bounced out of the room.

Draco glared at Theo, "Was this your doing?"

Theo smiled unabashedly at Draco, "Damn right."

Draco opened his mouth to lay into Theo, but Blaise walked over and put his hand up to stop him, "Just stop it, Draco; this is getting ridiculous."

Draco scoffed, "I'm being ridiculous!?"

"Yes, you are!" Blaise barked, "It doesn't matter how nasty you are to her, we know the truth!" He gestured between himself and Theo. "You do realize that our lives are about to change forever, don't you?"

"What the hell does that have to do with this situation, Blaise?" Draco growled.

Blaise barked out a laugh and threw his hands up, "It has everything to do with the situation! Things are going to change, Draco. They might change next year, they might change today; the point is that you have to stop being afraid."

Draco sneered, "I am not-"

"Yes, you are." Blaise interrupted, "Every man in this room knows just how special that woman is; she has a way of getting under your skin and leaving a mark on your soul. This last month has been hell for me, and with everything going on outside of these walls, I've finally realized that life is too damn unpredictable. Things can change in a split second and then it will be too late; it'll be too late to live your life the way you want. You, my friend, are afraid of living your life. You're in love with her, Draco; just admit it."

Draco looked at Blaise for a moment without speaking, and then, "Why does it matter, Blaise? It's pretty clear that you're in love with her too, and I can guarantee that she likes you a hell of a lot more than she likes me right now."

Blaise and Theo both noticed that for the first time, Draco didn't deny his feelings for the Gryffindor; that was something.

Blaise smiled, "There's nothing between us, mate; that ship has sailed. She's my friend, but that's it."

Draco turned to Theo, "What about you? You disappeared last night and are taking credit for their little reunion; what were you doing last night?"

Theo raised an eyebrow, "This isn't about me, mate; this is about you. It's not too late to make things right."

Draco raked his hands through his hair in frustration and dumped himself onto a chair. Hermione bloody Granger had been on his mind almost constantly for the last month. Draco had felt horrible for saying all those things to her the last time they spoke, but he had been jealous, confused and so completely frustrated that those words had just flown out of his mouth before he'd had a chance to think about it. The truth was, the moment they'd had in his room when she'd discovered he had a sister had completely wrecked him; the moment their lips had touched for the first time, he knew that he was ruined for all other women. He had gotten so carried away when he was kissing her that he no doubt would have shagged her right there on his bedroom floor if she'd let him; he wouldn't have even bothered taking her to the bed, he'd wanted her that badly. However, her conscience had gotten the best of her and she'd run off, mentioning something about Blaise.

That had been the other problem; he'd almost shagged the girl of his dreams knowing full well that his best friend was involved with her at the time. He was not the kind of guy that dicked over his friends like that. Draco knew that Blaise had real feelings for Hermione, and when he'd found out that she'd called things off with Blaise after their little snog fest, he'd felt so guilty, he'd lashed out at Hermione and said some really stupid things. He'd wanted to apologize to her several times, but she'd avoided him like the plague and when she'd split up their head tasks so that they wouldn't have to be around each other, he knew he'd thoroughly screwed the pooch, and yet, his friends were standing in front of him, telling him that it wasn't too late?

They were completely barmy!

Draco looked at his friends, "You don't know how bad I messed things up with her; I said some really stupid shit and she hasn't said a word to me in a month."

"Was it before or after you snogged her?" Theo asked.

Blaise looked surprised by this revelation, and Draco narrowed his eyes at Theo, "Did she tell you about that?"

Theo smiled, "No, you just did. I know you two better than you know yourselves."

Blaise looked at Draco, "This was about the time she stopped things between us?"

Draco sighed, "Yes, but that's not why she did it."

Blaise nodded, "I know; she told me why."

Blaise didn't elaborate on the situation, and Draco didn't ask.

"So, I'm just supposed to walk up to her and say, 'I'm sorry that I was such a shit to you, let's shag'?"

The boys smiled at him, "I'm sure you'll figure something out, mate; you've always had a way with the birds." Theo said.

Draco scoffed, "This isn't just any 'bird' we're talking about. I have a feeling that this will be like pulling teeth; extremely painful."

Theo clapped him on the back, "Serves you right for being such a tosser. Now, can we please go down to breakfast? I worked up quite an appetite last night and I'm starving."

He smiled impishly, but didn't offer any details and Blaise and Draco glared at him as they followed him out the door.

Cheeky bastard.

Not very exciting, but this chapter was essential. Now we can move on to the Dramione phase of the story.

Don't forget to R & R! :)