A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last two chapters and for all the favourites and alerts! I love knowing what you guys think :)

Draco POV

I was fighting extremely hard to keep the grin off my face.

"You kissed Pansy?"

"No Draco, I said I kissed Blaise."

"But before that, you said you kissed Pansy, right?"

Hermione looked exasperated. "Well yes. But that's not what I'm worried about! I'm worried that I kissed your male best friend in front of the rest of your house. I mean, what on earth are they going to think? I've been freaking out all night about what you we going to think, if you would be mad at me or if –"

"Did anyone take a photo?"

"A photo?" She blinked in surprise. It was cute, the fact that she had no idea what I was thinking. I allowed myself the smirk I'd been holding back.

"Of you and Pansy?"

Realisation dawned and then she was smacking me round the head. "Oh honestly! Have you even been listening to me at all? Or just fantasising?"

For a matter of fact, since she'd uttered the six magic words every guy wants to hear – "me", "another girl" and "spin the bottle" – I'd sort of phased out. Though Pansy was one of the most annoying people I'd met in my life, there was no denying the fact that she was hot (I mean, would I ever have slept with her if she wasn't? – ok, maybe don't answer that one) and the thought of her and Hermione together was enough to make whatever else my girlfriend was saying worthless.

"Well seriously" I said, raising an eyebrow. "What did you expect? My ex girlfriend and my current girlfriend make out and you want me to let it pass without comment?"

"I was in your body remember!" Hermione told me. "So even if some perverted Slytherin – and I'm pretty sure there are plenty of them, Blaise included – decided to take pictures then it wouldn't be what you're imagining."

My face fell. "I hadn't thought of that." My imagination had been overrun with visions of pillow fights and negligee and king beds. I came back to reality reluctantly.

Hermione crossed her arms, smug. "Exactly. Which gets us back to the point I was trying to make earlier, that I made out with Blaise while I was in your body."

I was silent for a moment, considering.

"Did Pansy use tongue?" I asked eventually.

"Draco!"

"Ok ok." I held up my hands in surrender, laughing. Can't blame a guy for trying to build up an accurate mental picture.

"So are you mad?" She asked, an anxious frown creasing her forehead. I was distracted from answering by the sight of such a vulnerable expression on my own face. I usually tried very hard to keep that kind of emotion private, as my father used to exploit every weakness I made him aware of. If I showed pain after he performed a curse on me, he would cast it again and again until I learnt indifference. When I was younger, if I particularly liked a book or toy he would destroy it in front of me to teach me not to become attached to things. He said he was showing me how to be strong, how to defeat my enemies. How not to feel emotions that made me weak. All he did was make me hate him even more. But when I had come to Hogwarts I'd kept the pretence up, not allowed by emotions to show because I thought it would only end in me getting hurt. It took years for me to let my guard down and even then it was only around the few people I knew I could trust, like Blaise and Crabbe and Goyle. During the war it had been imperative for me not to give anything away, especially when I was under the watchful eye of Dumbledore, because despite the fact that I had refused to help my father help Voldemort, I knew he would kill me if I revealed his plans. So seeing that kind amount of vulnerability in my own expression was unsettling. I tried not to let my discomfort show.

"About you and Blaise?" I asked. "Why would I be?"

Hermione looked slightly taken aback. "Well, because we're supposed to be going out and I kissed your best friend…"

"Spin the bottle" I shrugged. "Normal rules don't apply."

This was something I was very adamant about, as when I'd been sleeping with and kind-of-dating Daphne in Fifth year, I'd kissed Astoria Pucey during a drunken game at a party and she'd never let me forget about it, going on and on about my inability to commit (because duh, like I needed that pointing out to me). Blaise agreed that I'd done nothing wrong, but the rest of the girls all felt I'd betrayed her trust or some crap. Millicent always talked about some programme she watched called Friends whenever we referred to it, saying it was like the whole "Ross and Rachel on a break" thing. I had no idea what she was talking about, but I was inclined to think that Ross had a point. Anyway, my reassurances didn't seem to make Hermione feel any better, because she bit down on her bottom lip and carried on.

"And also because I didn't know whether it was the kind of thing you would normally do" she fretted. "I mean, would you have done it? If it had been you there? I didn't want to do something that was entirely out of character, it could give the game away completely!"

I reached over and took her hand, rolling my eyes as I did so. She still had so much to learn about Slytherin parties. "Really Hermione, don't worry about it. You'd be appalled at the kind of stuff that goes down after a few crates of fire whiskey have been polished off. Two guys making out barely elicits comment anymore. And anyway, it's one of Blaise's go to moves."

She let out a sigh of relief and laced her fingers through mine. I could feel the tension draining out of her body as she snuggled up against me, resting her head on my shoulder.

"What do you mean, it's one of Blaise's "go to moves"?" she asked.

"I'm not sure I should tell you. It isn't for innocent ears such as your own."

"I think I can handle it Draco" she said, giving my hand a squeeze. "I have just been severely corrupted by Blaise after all."

I grinned. "Fine. Basically, Blaise and I have always worked together to, err, pick up girls. And Blaise is under the – I must admit correct – impression that two guys making out turns girls on. So, sometimes that's what we do if our other moves aren't going to plan…" I trailed off suggestively.

Hermione twisted round so she could look at my face. "You mean that you and Blaise do that a lot?"

"Turned on?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.

She turned red. "No! I mean, yes. I suppose if I saw it… I don't know! It just seems an odd thing to do. Do you like it?"

"It's only kissing" I said, thinking about the conversation me and Blaise had had years ago when we first started initiating that particular plan. I had been very adamant in telling him that it didn't make us in the slightest gay, as we were only doing it to hook up with girls. Blaise had said that it didn't matter to him if it did make us look gay, as he was cool either way. After that, I'd relaxed about the whole thing and sexuality had become less of an issue with our group of friends. I was definitely straight, but so many people around me seemed to like to experiment that kissing Blaise once in a while was practically normal. "It's a means to an ends" I told Hermione.

"Maybe when we switch back you can do it in front of me" she said, a mischievous smile lighting up her face. "I must admit, I'm intrigued."

I laughed. "It's a date baby."

She snuggled closer in to me and I wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Well I'm glad I didn't destroy your reputation or anything" she said.

I snorted. "Yeah, because you've been so worried about that in the past."

"That was different! Back then I was trying to get back at you for wearing that monstrosity which you called a dress in the Gryffindor common room."

"Only because you were intent on wearing corduroy" I reminded her. "I mean corduroy. Seriously! Whoever invented that material should be put in Azkaban."

"I still haven't given up on the possibility of you wearing it in the future."

"The only way you'll get corduroy on me is when I'm dead" I said firmly.

"I was thinking maybe I could wear it to the Yule Ball…" Hermione suggested.

"No" I said immediately.

"But why? It makes you look so cute!"

"Just no."

"For me Draco? Please?" Her voice turned sugary sweet. "I could even put my hair in that centre parting you love so much."

"We might be going out, but I am not allowing you to style me" I said firmly.

Hermione sighed. "Oh well. Once we switch backs I'll have years to convince you."

"Years?" I couldn't keep the smile out of my voice as I realised she was still envisaging us being together that far in the future.

"Years" she agreed.

Walking into Charms, my eyes immediately sought Hermione out. She was sitting at the back of the class next to Blaise, sunlight pouring in through the window behind her and illuminating her/my (the whole thing still confused me sometimes) blond hair. I grinned as I walked over to take my seat by Ron, noticing how she was tipped back causally on her chair, something I was positive she'd never done as a Gryffindor. Evidently, I was having a good effect on her.

Then the smile was completely wiped off my face as Pansy leaned across her desk and put a hand on Hermione's thigh, looking up at her and fluttering her lashes shamelessly. I was filled with an absurd anger, a consuming desire to punch the closest thing in sight (which indecently would have been Weasley, so win win really). What the hell gave Pansy the right to touch her? Ok, I knew Pansy thought she was me, and I'd spent enough nights with her to make her think she could crawl back for sex anytime she wanted. And the fact that she thought she'd made out with me only last night in spin the bottle. But the whole thing still made me want to hex her face off.

"Miss Granger?"

"Hmm?" I turned back to face the front of the class, trying to reign in my rage, to find Professor Flitwick looking at me expectantly.

"Could you please explain to the class the correct incantation needed to perform a tickling charm?" He asked me.

I was nonplussed. "Professor, we learnt that spell in first year." Maybe he was having a senile moment, but I decided it probably wasn't polite to point this out.

Flitwick smiled. "I am aware of that Miss Granger, but I was hoping we could incorporate it into the full paralysis charm we are performing today."

"Can't we just use the body bind hex?" I muttered.

A frown crossed Flitwick's face. "If you do not know, or have forgotten the incantation Miss Granger, merely say so."

"I know it, it's just –"

"Then perhaps you are unwilling to participate for some other reason?"

"No" I said shortly, aware that Hermione's fierce gaze was boring holes into the back of my head. She'd probably never even disagreed with a teacher in her entire life. "All I meant was that there are other ways of causing full paralysis that don't involve tickling."

Flitwick seemed disproportionately affronted. I wasn't sure why, it's not like I'd insulted him or anything, plus I'd said much worse to him in my own body (me and Blaise generally spent Charms lessons trying to come up with height related jokes – our favourites involved dwarf/small woodland creature hybrid references). From the corner of my eye I could see Hermione gripping the edge of the desk in helpless frustration.

"Look" I said, thinking that it was more than my life was worth not to answer the question. "The spell you need is ridero."

"Correct" said Flitwick, "although I am unsure as to why it took you this long to grace me with an answer."

"Sorry Professor."

As expected, ten seconds after Flitwick had turned to write on the board, a note landed on my desk.

What on earth do you think you're playing at Draco? ANSWER a teacher if they ask you a question. Do NOT come up with smart-alec replies because you think that you're so much cleverer than everybody else in the room.

Come on Mione, is that really fair? All I said was we'd already done that spell.

It wasn't just what you said, it was your tone. You weren't respectful. I thought we'd gotten over all of this.

It's kind of hard to be respectful when your teacher's a midget.

…..

Mione?

…..

Hermione, stop taking notes and answer me. It's not like you don't already know all this.

…..

Please Mione?

…..

Fine then. I'm going to stand up and start striping in 10, 9, 8...

DRACO! Don't you DARE strip in front of the entirety of BOTH OUR HOUSES.

I wouldn't actually have done it you know.

I'm aware of that. I just like shouting at you, even in note format.

That's kind of hot you know.

You can't see me, but I'm rolling my eyes. I'm going to stop replying now because Flitwick is sending me suspicious looks. We'll finish this discussion later.

Mione?

Yes Draco?

I love you

Love you too

Grinning, I scrunched up Hermione's reply and stuffed it into my bag. The last thing we needed was me leaving it lying around somewhere and having Potter or Weasel find it. I also wasn't entirely sure what had made me say "I love you" either, but seeing her "love you too" was causing a strange sensation in my stomach that I'd never experienced before. It was like taking a sip of butterbeer on a winter's day and having the warm feeling slowly spread through your veins. Merlin, since when had I started to feel like this? There was something about Hermione that made me happier than I'd ever been in my life. I could be myself around her, could let my guard down. But since when had it gone from being "in a relationship" to "love". I'd never even considered the word love before. What did it mean? The love between my father and mother had been strained at best and for the most part non existence. Theirs had been a marriage of convenience, arranged by their parents to uphold two of the oldest wizarding family names and ensure that the pureblood tradition continued. I'd never seen much evidence of true love before. Most of my time had Hogwarts had consisted of going through girl after girl, competing with Blaise to see who could get the most and tossing them aside once I'd had my fill. I wasn't proud of this the way I had been, not since Hermione had come along. And suddenly, out of nowhere, I loved her. And seriously, I just couldn't help it. She was the best thing that had ever happened to me. And I wasn't about to let her go.

Hermione POV

Walking down to breakfast the next morning, Draco surprised me with an interesting fact.

"Only four weeks left until the Christmas holidays. That means only three weeks until the Yule Ball and four weeks until we switch back."

I hastily looked round to make sure there was nobody else in the corridor that could be listening in – causing Draco to roll his eyes – and when I was sure we were alone, I replied.

"Four weeks? Wow, the time's gone pretty quickly, hasn't it?"

It didn't feel like I'd been in Draco's body for three weeks already, but at the same time it felt like a lifetime. So much had happened since the morning that I'd woken up and looked in the mirror to find a blond face staring back at me. I'd tried to destroy Draco's life, made a truce with him, bonded with Blaise, organised the Yule Ball, helped Draco through his first period, found out so much about his family and his true self, had sex with him… and now here we were – a couple. If somebody had told me at the beginning of the year that by Christmas I would be the girlfriend of a Slytherin, I would have told them to lay off the firewhiskey. But everything that had happened between Draco and I felt so right. The note that he'd passed me yesterday in Charms, the note where he'd said "I love you" was still first and foremost on my mind. He loved me. And I wasn't at all surprised to find that I loved him too. I was definitely going to buy Dumbledore a brilliant Christmas present to thank him for the switch.

"Time's gone quickly since we got together" said Draco. "Before then, it dragged."

"What do you mean?"

"Well to begin with I spent hours shut up in my room thinking of ways to destroy you. Then after we started to get on better there were the awful hours I had to spend with Potter and Weasley, giving them love advice and trying to stop Ron from mounting me…" He paused and shot me a grin. "Then I spent agonizing hours trying to work out why I seemed to be attracted to you."

I laughed. "And now?"

Draco reached over and patted my backside. "Now I can't wait for us to change back, but for totally different reasons."

"What are we going to do after we turn back into ourselves?" I wondered out loud. "I mean, are we still going to keep everything – "

I broke off as we walked into the Entrance Hall to find Harry and Ron waiting by the doors of the Great Hall.

"Hey Mione" Harry called, walking towards Draco. Ron shot me a dirty look.

"What are you doing here Malfoy?" he growled. I hated seeing Ron look at me like that, but it was getting easier to ignore it. I'd even been practising Draco's "cool stare" expression in the mirror.

"Weasley" I said, pulling off my best sneer. "I was walking to breakfast funnily enough. Not that it's any of your business."

"Why are you with Hermione?" Ron demanded.

"We were just going over plans for the Yule Ball" said Draco, moving away from me and towards Harry. "But we've finished now. Let's go to breakfast."

Without turning back to look at me Harry, Ron and Draco walked into the Great Hall. It was funny seeing the backs of their heads – one jet black, one red, one bushy brown – as this must be how people usually saw us, but before I could have too much of an out-of-body experience Blaise had come up behind me and wrapped an arm round my shoulders.

"Sup?"

"Hey Blaise" I said.

"Cheers for the other night mate. Daphne was incredible."

I laughed. It was weird how in three weeks this kind of comment had gone from seeming entirely crass and inappropriate to amusing. As we took our seats at the Slytherin table, I saw him wink at Daphne.

"I'm happy for you" I said, not entirely sure how you were supposed to respond to that kind of statement.

"I'm happy for me too" Blaise grinned, reaching for the toast. "Did you and Pansy get together?"

"No. I think she passed out."

"Never stopped you before."

I looked up from the croissant I was spreading jam on, horrified.

"What?"

Blaise looked thoughtful for a minute. "Hang on, I think it was me who slept with her that time she was practically unconscious. I remember her complaining about how I'd taken advantage of her in the morning. She made me carry her bag round for a week."

"You are such a dick" I said, shaking my head. Blaise's grin got even wider.

"Yeah, but a sexy dick. You gotta love me."

"Debatable" I muttered.

While Blaise turned to Crabbe and started up a conversation about Quidditch, I allowed my attention to drift over to the Gryffindor table. I loved to watch the expressions on Draco's face as he tried to talk to Harry and Ron. He would put on this strange smile while they were looking at him and the second they looked away his brow would knit together and his shoulders would slump. I used to worry that he would give the game away, letting his emotions show that easily, but now it just made me smile.

The sight that met my eyes made my heart freeze. Draco was looking down at a letter that he'd obviously just opened and his knuckles had gone white with the strain of gripping the edge of the table. I could see a muscle working in his jaw and watched in shock as he threw the piece of toast he was holding down on the table, stood up and stalked out of the Hall. Harry and Ron were calling after him, exchanging worried glances, but I was already out of my seat and hurrying towards the Entrance Hall before I could notice anything else. Blaise yelled something after me, but the blood was pumping too loudly in my ears for me to hear exactly what he said. What on earth could have made Draco look so horrified? And if he was getting my post, then did this mean that the horrifying news was actually meant for me? Had something happened to my parents? Oh God…

I broke into a run as I made my way up the stairs to the first floor. Which direction had he gone? I was starting to panic, rushing along without any real sense of purpose. Would he have gone back to the Heads Dormitory? Surely he would want to tell me whatever had been in the letter? Or maybe it was such bad news that he was deliberately avoiding me. Where the hell was he?

"Draco!" I called out, aware that if anybody saw me it would look like I was screaming out my own name, but too worked up to care. "Draco! Where are you?"

My words echoed down the empty corridor. His face had been so white, his eyes widened in shock. Or had it been fear? I had been too far away to understand the exact nature of his emotions. All that I knew was that I'd never seen him so upset.

"Draco!"

Still no reply. Why hadn't he waited for me outside the Great Hall? Surely he would have known that I would have followed him out. Maybe I had got this wrong. Maybe he hadn't been worried about the letter, but simply feeling ill. There had been kippers for breakfast and I knew that Ginny found the smell nauseating… But that didn't explain why he had taken the letter with him. He obviously hadn't wanted Harry and Ron to read it. This thought sent me into panic again and I quickened my pace as I rounded the corner. Adrenaline coursed through my body as visions of my parents injured in a car crash, lying paralysed in a white hospital room popped into my mind. Dad had always been a careless driver; mum always told him to pay more attention, to take bends slower. What if it had been a rainy night and they had slipped on the tarmac? What if there was nothing the doctors could do?

"Draco! Where are you?" I screamed.

"Hermione?"

His voice broke on my name. I couldn't tell which direction it had come from and lurched to a halt, looking around wildly.

"Where are you?" I called again.

"Bathroom."

The door on the right in front of me led into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and I ran forward, pushing it open. The first thing I saw was the sink that I knew hid the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets and slumped against it on the floor, his head in his hands, was Draco. The crumpled letter lay next to him, half soaked by a pool of water that was causing the ink to run in blue black rivulets across the white paper. All at once I was struck with a sudden fear. Something was definitely wrong, terribly wrong. I couldn't quite find my voice to ask him the hundreds of questions that I wanted to know the answers to.

"Dr – Draco? What's…?"

He raised his head slowly and locked gazes with me. Though my eyes are usually a chocolate brown colour, I could have sworn as he looked at me that they were black, a flat black colour void of all emotion. I had never seen such an empty expression on my own face before and this more than anything prompted me into action. I hurried across the wet floor and crouched down next to him, my hand reaching out to find his own. Draco flinched away from my touch.

"Don't." His voice was low and hoarse. "Don't Hermione."

I slowly withdrew my hand, trying not to let the hurt I was feeling show on my face.

"Is it my parents?" I asked quietly. "If it's my parents please tell me. I need to know. I need to know what's happened – "

"What about your parents?" Draco cut across me.

"I thought that the letter…?"

He let out a hollow laugh. "You thought wrong."

Though I was supposed to be feeling relief that my mum and dad were ok – and I was, the horrible visions of blood and mangled metal had disappeared – my heart sank further.

"Then what?" I asked him.

There was such a long pause that I wasn't sure if he was going to reply. Just as I was about to repeat the question, he spoke.

"The letter was from my father."

Suddenly everything made sense. His violent reaction, the fact he couldn't leave the letter with Ron and Harry. Everything Blaise had told me about Draco's usual reaction to receiving a letter from his father came back to me. His anger, which he tried to cover up but ended up giving himself away by being awful to everyone around him. I felt so stupid. I'd been so lost in thoughts concerning myself that it hadn't even occurred to me that the letter might be for Draco himself.

"Oh Draco, I'm sorry" I said softly. "What did he say? Was he horrible?"

"He said…" Draco sounded far away, as if he was speaking from a great distance. "It doesn't matter what he said."

Draco POV

She looked so worried, so desperate to help me. It was weakness like this that my father would use to hurt her. Hurt her until she cracked.

When I had realised the letter was from my father my blood had turned cold. After I'd read the first line saying how Dumbledore had asked his permission for a body switch to occur I'd felt like I was being stabbed with ice. By the time I'd got to the last paragraph – how he'd been using Xavier Knott, a Slytherin 6th year to spy on me and Hermione, how he knew what was going on between us, how he was going to do everything in his power to hurt her, and by association me, until we broke up, how he still had connections even thought he was in Azkaban and would make my life a living hell unless I upheld the family name – I'd stopped feeling altogether. I'd never underestimated my father in my entire life. Until now. Once he'd been put in Azkaban I figured it was over. But of course he still knew everything that was happening with me; of course he was still in control. And now he was going to hurt Hermione until I did exactly what he said. What the fuck was I going to do? My heart sank as I realised there was only one thing I could do. Only one way to make sure that nothing happened to her.

"Why are you sorry?" I ground out.

"I know that you hate yourself for still loving him" she said, sounding so understanding it made me want to punch something. "But you don't need to beat yourself up. It's going to be ok."

"I know."

Her eyes became hopeful. "You do?"

Shit. It was now or never. Now, before it was too late.

"Of course. Once I'm rid of you."

I couldn't believe I'd actually forced the words out. She frowned, confused by what I was saying.

"What do you mean?"

I ran a hand through my hair, steeling myself. "Everything in my life will be fucking perfect once I'm not stuck with you anymore."

Her face paled at the harshness of my tone and she stood up, taking a couple of paces back, as if she could understand what I was saying if she got a better look at me.

"Why did you just say that? I don't understand Draco. What did you father say?"

"Nothing he hasn't said before."

Was this really the right way to go about it? Maybe I could tell her that my father knew about us. That he would do everything in his power to break us up and that we had to stay away from each other for her own safety. But she was the kind of person that wouldn't be scared, who wouldn't let personal danger keep her from something that she believed in. This was the only way.

"This is so wrong Hermione!" I shouted suddenly. "Everything about us is so wrong!"

She balled her hands into fists at her sides, her nails digging into her palms. Her eyes were wide, filled with confusion and pain. "Draco, I – "

"No! Look at me. Look at yourself! We're trapped in each other's bodies." I gestured at the long mirror that ran above the line of sinks.

"We won't be for much longer" Hermione insisted. "The switch is only until the end of term. When we're back to normal we can just –"

"What?" My voice cracked. "We can just what?"

She faltered, her eyes becoming uncertain. "Be together" she said softly. "I thought… I thought that was what you wanted."

"Maybe I did". I closed my eyes, forcing the words out. "But I don't anymore."

She recoiled away from me, like I'd physically slapped her. Her face had gone very white and I could tell she was trying not to cry. It was only the shock that was stopping her.

"You don't mean that" she choked out.

"Don't I?" I asked coolly.

I didn't want to do this to her. Didn't want to hurt her. But the alternative would be much worse. I twisted my features into a sneering expression.

"You really thought that we would last? How naïve of you."

She looked up at me, horrified and I met her gaze unflinchingly. See it through Draco. Don't back down now.

"I don't know what your father said to you Draco, but we can get over it. I know you don't mean what –"

I cut across her. "The only reason we got together was because I hadn't had sex for weeks trapped in your body, and when Dumbledore reversed the switch you were there and willing. After that, it was just a game. I wanted to see how far I could let this go. How long I could string you out for. You mean nothing to me."

Her voice was barely more than a whisper. "Don't do this Draco. Whatever the problem is, we can work through it."

Her words hit me like a punch to the gut and suddenly I wasn't sure. I was doing the right thing, wasn't I? She was broken, on the edge of a very deep abyss and with one push I could send her toppling into the darkness. I could see it in her eyes. But I had to do it. Even though it would destroy me to cause her so much pain.

I quirked my lips up into a smirk. "You weren't a bad lay either. For a mudblood."

Surely that would be it. She couldn't take anymore after that.

"Why are you doing this?" A single tear slid down her cheek and it took all my willpower not to reach up and pull her down into my arms. "You said you loved me."

Finish what you started Draco.

"I said a lot of things, sweetheart. And the only one that was true is that you mean nothing to me."

Her expression flitted from shock, to white hot anger and then suddenly there was no emotion at all. She was shutting herself off from me, withdrawing. If I didn't say anything now I would lose her forever…

Hermione.

Without another word she turned her back on me, and walked away.

Ok, so please don't hate me! I'd love to know what you think, leave me a review and let me know :)

Also, if anyone likes the Draco/Ginny pairing then check out my new fic Never Say Never (shameless plug here, but hey) :D

~ BB