"Ginny? Are you in here?" Ron asked as he slowly opened her bedroom door.

"Yes, but you would soon find that out since you didn't even knock!"

"Ok, sorry, I just wanted to talk to you. You seem a little depressed lately. Is there something bothering you?"

"Yeah, sort of, but, no offense Ron, it isn't really a big brother solvable problem. It's more of a deal with on your own, with extensive advice from girlfriends, kind of thing."

"Oh, one of those problems, I will pretend to be competent in that area. But if there was something on your mind, that you needed to talk about, I'm always here, you know that right?"

"Yeah, thanks Ron, I know, and if this was any other worry I probably would confide in you, but, I can't."

"Ok, but I am here, unless it has something to do with guys, like kissing or any of those things because, just be for warned, if you ever come to me with a problem there, I might go and rip the boys tongue out. WHOEVER it is." He smiled at her.

She laughed and hugged him. "I love you Ron. And you know that goes both ways, if you ever need help I'm here too, especially with girls. I think that should be a rule, from now on, if you like a girl you hand it over to me and I will take care of it for you."

"Hey! I'm not completely hopeless. It just, takes me a little while to get up the nerve to really go for it. Especially if I really like someone."

"Is there someone you really like right now?" she asked, dreading the answer.

"Well, yeah, actually.."

"Who?" though she already knew the answer, half of the school already knew the answer.

"It's…. You can't tell anyone! Hermione." He said and held his breath for the shock wave to hit her. It never did. "Well, I just told you that I like Hermione and you are calmly sitting there like you've.." Realization dawned. "You.."

"Yeah, I kind of suspected."

"How?"

"Well, Ron, I am your sister, and do live in the same house as you. It's not like I can't here you up there in your room."

"You can here me?" Ron asked looking terrified.

"Yeah, Ron, I think everyone has heard you."

"Everyone? As in, Mom and Dad too everyone?"

"Uh-huh. It's not like you keep your voice down when your up there talking to yourself.. or her I mean, I like the scene where you ride up on the horse and pull her into your lap as you pass her house."

"Oh, you heard.." Ron looked a little relieved, but still a bit embarrassed. "You heard that did you? And.."

"And the one where you're some kind of government agent who has to protect her from a serial killer, thereby throwing you into a series of private moments, yeah, heard them all, and can you say hero complex."

He turned ten shades of pink and sat down on her bed. Why had he been so loud. Because he had assumed that no one would be eaves dropping on him. But now that he thought about it he had never checked for any of Fred and George's extendable ears, or anything like that. Why would he have thought of that? Why wouldn't he, with brothers like them?

"So, you heard me, and now everyone knows." A sudden thought occurred to him, "You don't think Hermione knows do you?"

"I don't know, but I'm pretty sure Harry does. I'm not going to lie to you, there is a very good chance she does know, even if she hadn't heard your late night matinee you aren't that discreet in everyday life."

Ron looked downcast. "So, you think she knows… Do you think she feels the same way?"

Ginny looked uncomfortable. "I don't know, I can't always tell what she's feeling." Which was a complete lie. Hermione was one of the few people she could read like a book. Maybe it was because she liked them so much. Ginny had learned from living with six brothers that you had to hide certain things if you wanted to live in peace.

"So, if I asked her out, do you think she'd say yes, I mean I've been kind of scared she would reject me so I didn't want to do it. But if she already knows how I feel, then is there a real point in not going out on that ledge. I mean she isn't going out with Krum anymore. She might even say yes. What do you think?"

He looked so hopeful she didn't know what to say to try to dissuade him. She couldn't tell him that she had the sneaking suspicion that Hermione and Malfoy were now dating, it would kill him. Literally, he would probably die of pain and anger.

"I think.." she searched for something, anything to convince him to put off the inevitable, "I don't think she really wants to get into anything right now, I mean, she just went through the whole thing with her grandmother and she probably just wants to be on her own for a while."

"I guess you're right, she probably needs time. She did seem pretty broken up by her grandma's death. Maybe I should wait. Yeah, she needs some time to deal with that stuff. I should wait."

Ginny gave a mental sigh of relief. She did not want to be the one to break it to her older, very sensitive, brother that the girl he liked was dating his worst enemy. The boy who had insulted their family, Harry, and Hermione so many times it was impossible to keep track. It took a girl to understand certain things. Or a boy who was very sweet and loving, who cared more about the feeling of his friends than his own personal vendettas.

"Ginny, you ok?" Ron asked

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well, you just got this far off look in your eye, and you sighed, it was kind of creepy."

"Oh, sorry, I was just thinking of someone."

"Anyone I know." Ron asked with a hopeful look in his eye. Her brother was incredible open with his emotions and thoughts.

"I don't know, maybe."

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All through dinner Hermione was incredibly nervous. She couldn't stop thinking about what she was going to do that night. The rest of the school would be returning tomorrow and she wanted to spend tonight with Draco.

Draco knew something was up. Every time he glanced in Hermione's direction she was fidgeting in her seat and whenever he would catch her looking at him she would quickly look away, as if embarrassed to be caught watching him. What was going on inside her head? Normally he could tell, but tonight, he had no idea.

Hermione was having a very difficult time concentrating on what Luna was saying to her. She kept glancing over at Malfoy, he was staring at her. The look in his eyes was very sexy. She had to stop thinking about him! Luna was saying something about eggplant and it being able to cure cancer.

"I mean really, all these muggle and wizarding doctors need to do is shovel eggplant down the throats of these cancer patients by the truck load and they would live. I mean, sure, the guys might lose their genitalia but women have almost nothing to worry about, there's just that pesky loss of eyesight. But that clears up within a year or two… usually."

"Yeah," Hermione said without really hearing, "They must be crazy to have not thought of that."

"That's what my dad says! You two have a lot on common you know. He always says that these muggle doctors especially need to get back to their roots. There are so many cures for all these diseases they claim are untreatable. He says muggles are stubborn though, and that we should give them a taste of their own medicine, you know, burn a few at the stake, see how they like it."

"Yeah, that's a great idea, wait, what!" Hermione said as she finally comprehended what Luna had just said.

"Nice of you to join the conversation. What is on your mind that has you so preoccupied? Could It be a certain boy we both know who has blond hair and long legs?"

Hermione blushed, "I wasn't being that obvious was I?"

"Honey, the sexual tension in this room between just the two of you is smothering me."

"Wow, I guess it is obvious then. I just.. I don't know."

"You love him, don't you?"

"How did you-"

"Hermione, just because I don't see, like your average girl does not mean I am lacking in any of the perceptive arts unique to those of the female persuasion. It's written all over your face."

"Oh God, it is. Do you think anyone else will notice?"

"Like, Harry?"

"Harry already has an idea that I like Malfoy and he's sort of ok with it, but…"

"Ron."

Hermione's face fell, "Yeah, I don't know how to tell him that me and Malfoy are.. me and Malfoy."

"Especially since he's in love with you." Luna said to Hermione's great surprise.

"What! He is not in love with me. Sure he likes me, a little, but that's all there is to it, nothing more!"

"Sure," Luna said in a voice that was uncharacteristic of her "And Gilderoy Lockhart is a real hero!"

"He does not-"

"Hermione, he does, it is impossible to ignore the fact that Ronald Weasley is in love with you, you may not know it, he may not even know it, but it is there, pure and simple. He loves you and you will have to deal with that someday, even if this whole Malfoy thing doesn't work out."

Somewhere, deep down, Hermione knew this. She knew that she had to face that. It was one of the things that scared her most about everyone returning. Harry would figure it out, he wasn't stupid. Neither was Ron though, except he wouldn't be looking for what was going on like Harry would. Actually he would probably ignore the whole thing, just like he always did.

"I know, I just.. I won't think about that now, I can't, I can't let it ruin my last peaceful night with Draco."

"I understand that."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean exactly what you think I mean, that boy is incredibly edible and I wouldn't want anything to ruin a night with him either."

"Luna Lovegood, I cannot believe you would say something like that."

"Yeah, well, there are a lot of different sides to me that people don't always get to see. Hormonal teenager just comes with puberty though."

"I.. You.. We're not…" Hermione stuttered just staring at the girl sitting next to her.

"Don't worry, secret still safe with me."

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She had left the feast a half hour ago and stood waiting, hidden outside the doors to the great hall. Draco still had not come out, and she was beginning to wonder if he hadn't forgotten she asked him to meet her out here and gone back to his common room.

The doors finally opened, but it wasn't Draco that came out, it was the Hufflepuff first years, who always seemed to go everywhere with each other. She could hear them from where she was and was vastly amused by their topic of conversation.

"He's just so cute!"

"I know! And that hair, it's so messy, it's so hot!"

"Plus, you know that he stood up to you-know-who, and like, totally won!"

"I know, I wish he would notice me."

"Yeah, he's such a dream, I hope I see him in the hallway going to Herbology again this semester. It was like, my favorite moment of the week."

"No way, I saw him on my way to Defense and on my way to History of magic, I can't tell you how cute he was, walking with his friends, talking about whatever it was they were talking about."

"I know, everyday. It's the same thing, he is always with those two people and they are always talking. I wonder what they talk about? Do you think it's the same kind of stuff we talk about?"

"No way! He's so much more mature than we are, I bet they talk about really mature things. Like the Middle East!"

"France does have a lot of problems!"

Their voices were swallowed by the hallway and Hermione heard no more. That was alright though, she had heard enough to keep her Ron and Harry laughing for about a month straight.

"You, know it's not nice to eavesdrop." Came a cool voice very close to her ear.

She turned around to find Malfoy standing behind her. She was suddenly very nervous and wasn't quite sure how she wanted to say what she had planned.

"Draco, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Alright, but first, come with me, I have something I wanted to show you." He grabbed her hand a started leading her towards the dungeons, right into the Slytherin common room. "I made it for you."

She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Actually she didn't know what it was she was seeing. On the couch in the middle of the room was what looked like a long, tangled piece of leather.

"What is it?"

"It's a harness, see," He picked it up and she saw that it was actually two leather hoops lashed together in the center. "This part goes around your waist." He put the first hoop over her head and tightened it then stepped around behind her and began to fiddle with it. "Then this part goes around mine, and there you have it, no more fear of falling off the broom without my going with you. I'll always be there to break your fall."

She turned to face him, having to tilt her head back to see him since the strap wouldn't let her move away. "I thought you told me you never said the right things."

"I don't."

"So why does it seem that everything you say and do makes me all weak and mushy?"

"Weak and mushy?" he asked with a laugh

"Oh, shut up. You know what I mean. You keep doing these things that make me think your almost perfect."

"Almost?"

"Well, you did call me mudblood for a while and you have insulted my friends numerous times apart from that."

"Yeah, well, that was the image, had to keep it up and all that. So! Um, you said you wanted to talk to me about something?"

"Nice change of subject. And yes, I did….. This is kind of awkward, but…um.." she couldn't seem to get the words out of her mouth. "Could we take this thing off?" She asked, indicating the leather safety strap that kept them glued together. "This is already embarrassing enough without it."

"I don't know, I kind of like it like this."

"You would. Fine, I'll just come right out and say it then…." She just stood there for a good five minutes.

"Hermione, are you still there? You were going to come right out and say something?"

"Yes, I um… you see I was thinking…. Well… we um….."

"Yes, what is it?" he asked starting to become concerned, what was it she was having trouble saying to him. He didn't know, but he didn't like that she didn't feel comfortable enough to tell him anything at all.

"I was just…….it's just that……"

"Come on Hermione, out with it!"

"Will you sleep with me?"

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ok, I hope you enjoyed that. I'm not sure it came out so great, and I am sorry for the cheesy "cliff-hanger" at the end. I just couldn't help ending a chapter on that note. oh, and by the way, I have a new favorite series. It's called the dark hunter series, by Sherrilyn Kenyon, they're amazing. ok, back to topic at hand. I seem to be on a roll, if I keep up at this rate I may be finished with this one by midterms... MAY! I do hope to be writing more, and ironically I seem to have more free time, so I just might, though i am starting a different fiction (my big problem, I start new ones and then can't decided which to write, or worse i get in a roll with the other one and end up ignoring the current one!) but I am trying to focus more on this one and only work on the other when it is imposible for me to write this one (such as during class, or out on the quad, which I find myself drawn to, for some reason... there aren't even any boys out there... it's a mystery). So I hope to be updating more rapidly than I have been. once again sorry about the long ass wait for chapter 10! but here you have chapter 11 and, yeah, lot's of fun stuff coming up soon. but now, I am going to bed, so, good night all, sleep tight.