*First Person*

The Christmas party wasn't bad as I thought it's be, though there were a lot of reporters, and mostly famous peoples children that went to Hogwarts instead of those who got good grades in Slughorn's classes. I mean, Neville was there, but he was there as a waiter.

The room the party was being held in was larger than I'd remembered it, with emerald, crimson, and gold drapes around the walls to make it seem like a giant tent. A red light bathed the room, cast from a golden lamp in the middle of the room giving off it's own brilliant glowing light. Loud singing accompanied by some unidentified instrument, issued from a distant corner.

For this occasion, I was dressed up as well as I could, wearing a dark green dress it was simple and long, and perfect for Christmas, but not for Hogwarts houses. My hair I had up in a loose braid that fell down my back, with some feathers mixed into it. I thought it would have been cute, but it just kinda looked like I had a pillow fight or something. Dean was dress smartly in his tux, though sometimes I wondered whose it actually was, since it looked a little big for him in some areas.

Hermione had been dumb and brought Cormac who was trying to snog her at every turn. The only thing that stopped him was her incessant talking and her needing to go off every once in a while. It sort of served her right for bringing him.

Harry had been smart and brought Luna, who was dressed in a interesting purple dress. She mostly stayed close to Dean and I since Harry had been pulled away by Slughorn and she didn't seem to know anyone else. I found it fun to speak with her though, since the party was basically boring.

"Rebecca!" I spun to find Hermione running towards me at full kilter, grabbing my hand as she past Dean, pulling me with her.

"See you in-" I started to say, but I was already long gone.

Hermione finally stopped as we reached a curtain and hid behind it. "I can't stand it anymore!" Hermione exclaimed quietly, peaking through the curtain to make sure no one had hear her.

"What are you going to do?" I asked, knowing she meant Cormac.

"If I leave the party early, will you explain it to Cormac?" she asked, looking desperate. "Say I have the flu? That I needed to do homework? Anything,"

"Of course," I smiled giving her a quick hug. "But promise me that you won't do anything stupid like this unless you tell me about it first,"

Hermione sighed and smiled before nodding enthusiastically.

"Good," I smiled before peaking through the curtain. "Not hurry before he sees you. I'll take care of it if her asks me about you," I told her.

"Have I told you you're my favorite?" she asked with a chuckle before she slipped out of the room.

I rolled my eyes and stepped out from behind the curtain and moved back into the party, looking around the room to try and find Dean and Luna. But before I could find them, I found Harry who had been talking to Snape who suddenly walked off, cutting off the conversation. I stopped next to him as the door to the room slammed open, letting in Mr. Filch and Draco.

"Professor Slughorn, sir," Mr. Filch began happily, stopping in front of a swaying Slughorn as the room turned silent. "I just discovered this boy lurking in an upstairs corridor. He claims to have been invited to your party,"

Draco glared at Filch before he began to speak. "Okay, okay-"

"I invited him," I interrupted, stepping up and in front of Draco, facing Slughorn instead of Filch. "I must have forgot. I'm like that sometimes," I told him.

"Well let the boy stay!" Professor Slughorn laughed a little too loud. "The more the merrier!" he announced, though he slurred his words.

The party slowly went back to normal as people turned away from Draco and I and began to talk and the music began to play again. I turned and looked up at Draco, who was smirking down at me.

"What are you doing here?" I hissed at him.

"I thought you invited me... cousin," he smiled as he grabbed my arm and pulled me off to the side of the room.

"I didn't," I growled at him. "Now, what are you doing here?"

"None of your business," Draco bit out.

"It became my business when you were dragged in here," I bit back.

"I think that will be enough for tonight, Mr. Malfoy," a smooth voice said, making both Draco and I jump. I looked up to find that Snape had appeared beside us, looking down at Draco. "I'll escort him back to the dungeons, Miss Sherwood," Snape told us before carting Draco off without another word.

I sighed and brushed my bangs off to the side before turning around to see Dean glaring at me openly. "Dean-" I began but he cut me off with a hand before moving out of the room and down one of the deserted halls. "Dean, wait!" I called.

He stopped and spun on me. "What was that? You invited him? Why are you suddenly saving Draco Malfoy, Slytherin king and bully?" he exclaimed.

"It's complicated-" I tried.

"Then spell it out for me," Dean interrupted me.

I took in a deep breath to calm myself. "Draco's my cousin. That's why I said I invited him to the party," I told him.

"Since when have you been Draco Malfoy's cousin?" Dean spat. "Or are you just making stuff up now?"

"I'm not making stuff up!" I exclaimed.

"Then why were you being nice to him?"

My anger was burning brighter and brighter as I watched him glaring down at me, and then I remembered something… I didn't need to date him. I wasn't my mum, having to be with someone she didn't want, that was horrible.

"You know what? I'm done," I told him with a relieved laugh.

"What?"

"I'm breaking up with you," I told him plainly. "The truth is that I've been nice to Draco for who knows how long, because he's my cousin. I saved him tonight because he's my cousin, but you don't believe me," I told him angrily. "I'm tired of you always being jealous of the time I spend with my friends. I find it stupid that you got mad at me for no reason despite you ending up in McGonagall's office with me. I mean, you weren't even in trouble!" I exclaimed. "And you know what, as sweet as you are sometimes, I don't need you nagging me!"

"So you're breaking up with me over nothing?" Dean asked angrily.

"Aren't you even listening to me?" I shouted.

"Yes, and you want to break up with me because of nothing besides the little things I do and I want for us," Dean told me.

"Well you know what? I see it differently," I shouted. "I'm done dating you, Dean. You know what? I'm done dating period!"

I spun on my heel and tried desperately not to run back to Gryffindor Tower, running up to my bed, ignoring Hermione as she tried to get me to tell her what was wrong, and cried myself to sleep.

The next day, we were in the train home, or in Harry and my case, to the Burrow with Ron to spend Christmas with the Weasleys, since neither of us had parents anymore. Once Harry, Ron and I sat down in the compartment, Ron had immediately asked why my eyes were so red, causing Harry's head to snap up. I had forgotten to fix that before I got on the train this morning! I looked away from both of them and left the compartment, running to the nearest bathroom I could find so that I could fix my red puffy eyes.

Once I came out, I found Hermione coming toward me, looking angry and frustrated.

"What is it, Hermione"" I asked as I led her to a surprisingly empty compartment. "Lavender?"

She nodded. "Dean?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Dean, Draco and Harry," I corrected.

"Ow," she winced.

"Yeah," I sighed. "Last night, after you had left, I went looking for Dean when Filch dragged Draco in. For the past month or so, I've been trying to find out what's been going on with Draco, so I said I had invited him and convinced Slughorn to let him stay. After that, Draco wouldn't tell me what he had been up to, and then Snape took him out into the hall. Dean saw the whole thing and started yelling at me so I got tired of everything and dumped him, which was why I was crying last night," I explained.

"And Harry?" Hermione asked.

"I've had a crush on Harry since fifth year, and I think, maybe, possibly, if I'm not imagining things, just this year he might possibly, maybe like me back," I said, shrinking down, hoping Hermione wouldn't start laughing at my fantasies and then berate me.

"Lavender drew a heart with her and Ron's initials on the compartment door," she told me.

I pursed my lips, unsatisfied with both of our situations.

"It can't last much longer, him and Lavender. The honeymoon phase has got to end sometime. He didn't let her in, did he?" Hermione shook her head. I nodded with a knowing smile. "He's getting sick of her,"

Now it was her turn to fix my problem.

"Draco had been taking advantage of your kindness and he'll probably never tell you what he's up to, if he is up to anything that is. You shouldn't worry about Dean to much, you told me about everything and to me I think it's best that you two broke up, not to mention you like someone else. As for Harry, I always knew you liked him, you're my best friend after all, and I'm a girl so it was easy to read," she told me. "I think if you wait long enough, and with the right inspiration, Harry will come around," Hermione smiled.

"You're horrible," I giggled.

"No," Hermione smiled. "Horrible would be if I asked you to morph into Ron and ran up to Lavender and dumped her in front of everyone on the platform,"

I smiled. "True,"

Author's Note: I'm sorry to those of you that liked/like Dean, I'm one of you, I swear. But i had to get rid of him somehow without making him totally horrible.