I placed a Silencing charm around my lair so my friends, who were standing vigil by my door (why won't they go away?), wouldn't hear me screaming and kicking and shattering things. I must've made a mistake invoking the spell, however, when ten minutes into my tantrum, my friends came bursting through the door (breaking my locking spell and the door with it) telling me to keep it down because the castle woke up, thinking we were under attack.

Mistake after mistake. I can't get anything right anymore! I mean, how hard is it to invoke a silencing spell? How hard is it to keep a private lair secret? How hard is it to shove that incriminating journal down the drain so that my nosy friends won't discover it? The Hermione Granger doesn't make those kinds of stupid mistakes! Do I really need a War just to keep my wits sharp?

For the first time in my life, I cried in front of everybody shamelessly. It went on and on until I'm not only crying about what happened tonight, but also about a lot of things I kept bottled up inside. I didn't know I still had something to cry about the War that made me the miserable wreck I am right now, curse Voldy, but I felt so relieved to have gotten it out of my system. Harry and Ron were holding me and the rest comforted me silently, tapping my shoulders briefly or taking my hand in theirs. They were silent and I savored the peace. This month had been so full of chaos, thanks to me, and this small reprieve gave me rest. I thought that I'd be irritated with all of them here, witnessing my moment of weakness but they actually made me feel better. Well, it's hard to feel so alone when they are sitting right there commiserating with me.

When I calmed down, everyone were gauging my mood somberly, no doubt thinking about when best to start talking.

I'm kind of curious about what they had in mind. Will they scold me? Or will they apologize- they do have a lot to apologize for. But then, so do I.

Ron was the first one to talk, "'Mione, please never cry again. You look absolutely horrible with all the snot dripping from your nose."

Despite myself, I laughed. The tension broke and everyone started laughing. Typical Ron. I flipped him a finger and Ginny threw a shoe in his direction.

"Prick!" Ginny reprimanded him even while laughing herself.

Ron conjured a pillow and threw it at her but missed. He got me instead. Everyone fell silent again as if appraising my mood.

"Oh, please. I'm through with the crying jig and any more drama would seriously make me throw myself off a cliff," I said a bit irritably and threw the pillow back at him but it went wide and got Dean instead. Honestly! I've got the most accurate aim in history.

"Oh, no, you didn't just…" Dean trailed off and suddenly grinned evilly in my direction. He conjured a larger pillow.

Uh-oh.

Before I could register what's going on, everyone conjured pillows of different sizes (and weight, Neville keeps throwing it my way, geesh, that guy can really hold a grudge) and we were on a full-on pillow fight.

Collin and Padma were side by side, holding sword-shaped pillows, swinging it wildly, knocking Parvati, Cedric and Astoria simultaneously. They are on cosplay mode again, and this time, they are rocking gladiator outfits… or rags- it really depends on the angle. Terry and Harry charged at them with crossbow pillows that shoot heavy pillow arrows. Luna is hiding in a closet, targeting everyone with a pillow gun. Cho Chang is acting very protective again as she shields Neville with her body while reaching for stray pillows and throwing it at anyone single-handedly. She didn't see Dean crawling from behind with a large pillow which he used to pound Neville repeatedly. McLaggen (why is he here?) is looking at the mirror, bored , while Lavender, Ginny and Blaise pretended to be knocked out cold.

I found myself laughing, genuinely having a good time. I know what they're doing. They're trying so hard to make me forget about what happened earlier and they want to cheer me up. And it's working.

After a pillow missile hit me square in the face, I dropped dead, completing it with a theatrical gasp. Ginny was lying next to me and wordlessly held my hand. We shared a brief meaningful look, loaded with unspoken words that I strangely understood. And I know that everything is okay between us again.

I sighed and looked around. Collin and Padma are doing a victory dance after defeating everyone (almost everybody are now lying down on the floor and I could hear Ron snoring somewhere on my left), not realizing Luna stalking them from behind the curtains. I smiled fondly at all of them. They are the bigger part of a reason why I couldn't leave the wizarding world to avoid the Marriage law. I knew that if I set myself on exile, I'd lose so much. So, for the moment, I decided to forgive them for the Journal Fiasco and not be vengeful for once. Shocking, I know, but quite awesome of me.

That night, nobody returned to the dorms. We all stayed at my lair and talked about a lot of absurd things and one by one, fell asleep on the down-covered floor.

Morning came, and with it, a fierce determination not to succumb to the temptation of ditching classes. It would make me look like the pathetic loser if I stuffed myself with Fever Fudge just to avoid the people who were privy to the Journal Fiasco- namely Malfoy, since he was the target of most of my nasty thoughts, and the Headmaster (one of these days, I might just have to challenge him to a duel, or you know, just dump some of the left-over dungbombs in his face).

I wondered idly if my parents returned safely back home and if they have forgiven me yet for not telling them about the marriage law sooner and about the not-so-nice stuff I wrote in my journal that might've made them feel like the worst parents ever. It's too early to feel guilty about that, though. I'll have to write them a lengthy letter later.

I opened my eyes and stretched my legs and accidentally kicked something hard.

"Ow!" I complained, suddenly sitting up. I rubbed my sore toe and saw feathers everywhere. My friends are still sleeping around me every which way. I smiled at their peaceful faces and tried very hard not to attack, which was very tempting, especially since I have them all cooped up in one place at their most vulnerable. I reminded myself that I have forgiven them and won't be vengeful about yesterday.

I had picked the worst time to be a saint. Of course, another offense and I will get back at them, but not this time. This is an exception. They are truly the best of friends I could ever have. They didn't abandon me even when they thought I was losing my mind what with the wailing I did last night. Wow, that was so embarrassing! What made me snot all over the place with an audience?

But still, friends don't snoop in your private space, read your journal, discover something incriminating about it, involve the Headmaster, making you suffer all these punishments! My wand hand is itching, as my irritation flared up again and I almost wavered. With a huge amount of self-control, I managed to stay my hand. Merlin, that was hard! I really hope they offend me again soon so I won't have to strain myself too much from this payback withdrawal syndrome.

"Mmm," mumbled Cho, slowly sitting up and stretching her spine. "Ow! My back hurts!". She looked around then tapped Neville to wake him but he just rolled the other way. "Wake up, Nevvy. We still have classes."

Classes! Oh, shoot!

"What time is it?" asked a groggy Pansy, untangling herself from Ron's massive arms.

Cho, Pansy and I, turned to look at my wall clock at the same time. It's 10:05 AM! We missed Potions!

"Oh, my God. Snape's gonna kill us!" cried Pansy, waking Ron. "Nobody even thought to set the alarm? Oh, bollocks!"

"I missed Transfigurations! Oh my God! Neville, wake up! Get your lazy butt up!" Cho roared. If there is someone as paranoid as I am about classes, it's the Ravenclaws- except for Luna. That girl is always so calm.

"Great galloping centaurs! We are freaking late! Rise people! I don't wanna get a Troll! Wake up!" screamed Luna, who got up suddenly panicked, making Cedric (who sneakily snuggled up to Luna when she finally fell asleep last night) sit up quickly, covering his ears. Okay, so maybe she isn't an exception after all.

One by one, my friends woke up and raced to their respective dorms to change.

I, on the other hand, am thinking that this is probably the universe telling me to reconsider my philosophy and just ditch school. It is a Friday after all and I have couple sessions with Pockard later, which means facing Malfoy- again. I am still ashamed about my actions last night and it is rare for me to feel this way since I normally don't have that much to be ashamed of. I mean, there is no need for me to feel like I did something wrong if only the journal just stayed hidden. Stupid journal.

Ugh. I haven't decided if I'll just act all cool and indifferent or apologize for taking out my anger on him for something he didn't do. He didn't make the Law after all, no, it was that Saul guy from the 1500's that needs to pay. But he's dead now and I couldn't very well kill myself just to seek him out and kill him again.

Why am I thinking so hard about it anyway? I should just shrug it off and treat it like old times. We are enemies after all. That hasn't changed, has it? Has it?

So I trudged slowly back towards the Gryffindor tower. I'm late anyway, so I'll take my time preparing for the day: take a bath, brush my teeth, and iron my socks… then tidy my closet… scrub the toilets…

When I reached the common room, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Lavender, Parvati, Dean and Neville were still there. I thought how sweet it is for them to wait for me when I saw Professor McGonagall glaring at me. My friends were standing rigidly with their heads bowed, while Ginny is frantically gesturing at me to hurry up and join them. I hesitated a bit before joining them.

"How shameful! Do you know how much points you cost our House? Professor Snape was almost smug when he reported to me that 8 Gryffindors didn't show up in his class! He deducted 20 points each. 100 more deductions and we'll be out of the running for the House Cup even if we won the Quidditch games! What have you to say?" she asked us in such an intimidating voice.

No one spoke because we really don't have any excuses. What can we say? That we slept late because we had a pillow fight? It could very well make our punishment worse.

Crap, I shouldn't have left my lair.

"Alright, don't talk," she said grumpily. "Detention at 8:00. Meet me at my office."

What luck is this? I didn't have to go to Pockard's session!

"Professor, I'm sorry but I have extra couple sessions with Mr. Pockard at 8:00 today," Dean said, eager to get out of detention. I looked at him with murder in my eyes and stamped on his foot hard.

"Ouch, witch! What gives?" he cried, bending in pain. "You also have the same session with me!"

I stamped on his other foot. Can't he read my face? Or do I need to kick him some more?

"Ms. Granger, stop that!" Professor McGonagall reprimanded me while Dean whimpered.

"Sorry," I said without sincerity which made her raise an eyebrow, so I quickly rearranged my features to look contrite. "It's alright, though. Mr. Pockard won't mind us skipping a session tonight. We made a horrible mistake and lost our honorable House a lot of points so we have to face the consequences," I added. It would sound more apologetic, though, if I wasn't at all excited about the prospect of ditching Couple sessions tonight.

"No, no. You can meet me tomorrow at 8:00 pm instead. Sessions comes first," Professor McGonagall said with finality. I think she saw through me.

"But…"

"No buts. Now, off you go to your classes. You still have to recover the points you lost and you better get a lot to cover our losses today. Chop, chop!" And with those words, she left the room.

"Thanks so much, Dean," I seethed.

"Hey, 'Mione, cut him some slack. Professor McGonagall is known for her brutal detentions," said Harry, blocking Dean from my sight. Always the peacemaker. Good thing I value him…

"Let's go or we'll lose more points!" yelled Lavender, running towards the portrait hole.

"Oi! You're still in your PJ's!" shouted Ginny.

We all groaned and went to our rooms to change.


"So, any plans tonight?" Ron asked me casually, poking at his food. He is trying to hide his uneasiness about something.

We are sitting at our usual table, eating dinner.

"Well, as you already know, I got Pockard tonight and detention tomorrow. Two stones. I'm the bird they're throwing it at," I answered sourly. This week is a total bust. God, I'd do anything to get out of couple sessions tonight.

"Isn't it kill two birds with one stone?" asked Pansy.

"Well, what can I say? I'm hard to kill," I shrugged.

"Okay, okay, sorry," said Pansy quickly. She's also uneasy. Is there something I'm missing here? She avoided my inquiring eyes.

"Well, aside from that, aren't you, uh, gonna, you know, plan something else?" asked Neville in a suspiciously forced nonchalance.

"Honestly, I'm not gonna plan anymore coups or riot or whatever Dumbledore's accusing me of lately. Do you believe he's blaming me for every single mess now? This afternoon, he told me I shouldn't go flooding the toilets! He was referring to that toilet where Moaning Myrtle is, for Pete's sake!" I seethed.

I reached for the meatballs and Parvati flinched beside me. I looked at her, weirded out. She just offered an uneasy smile.

"~Birds are flying in the sky~ Pooping rotten eggs, and making me cry~," Cho sang nervously, looking at me sideways. I think she's trying to get something across here…

Lavender is not touching her food and Harry is scrutinizing his plate intently as if trying to determine if something is gonna jump out of it. I caught Cedric looking at me apprehensively and he quickly looked away.

Okay, this is unnerving.

"What's wrong with you people?" I asked them. "Why are you all twitchy?"

"Nothing. We're just thinking, maybe, you've forgotten something," said Dean suspiciously, his eyes narrowed at me.

"Like what? I don't have to clean the blasted Slytherin locker rooms today, I'm supposed to do it Tuesdays and Thursdays... Oh, no, you are so not making me face the wall again, are you? I have two months' worth of freaking detentions already!"

"No, no, nothing like that. Forget it," Harry said telling the others to stop bothering me with his eyes. He is still not eating his food.

There is definitely something fishy here. Oh, well. I won't dwell on it. I have something else to worry about. Hurriedly, I stabbed a mushroom from my plate and swallowed it.

Someone sighed in relief and began eating.

""Hey! Don't eat anything yet. She might've done something to it!" cried Cho, scolding Neville.

"But she's eating! She won't eat anything she's poisoned, will she?" asked Neville, confused.

Wait a minute…. Why would they think I poisoned the food? I continued scarfing my plate to show them I didn't do anything with it.

"What's the hurry, 'Mione?" Lavender asked me while watching me lap up my plate uncertainly. " It looks like you're up to something."

I flinched nervously. I am planning on ditching Pockard's session tonight to avoid Malfoy because I still feel a little guilty about, you know, planning on killing him so I need to think of an excuse.

"'Mione… you're making me nervous…"

"Oh, calm down, Lavender. I just have something to do…"

"It doesn't have anything to do with, uh, I don't know, revenge for last night?" she prodded, looking at me intently.

Oh! Okay, so I guess they're all nervous about me getting even with them for spying on me and turning in my journal to the Headmaster. I rolled my eyes. They must be so confused about my lack of violent response. I must've been a real basketcase these past few weeks.

"I don't have time for that now. I've got detentions, couple sessions and homework to think about," I waved my hand in an offhand manner. I do have a lot on my plate. Anyway, I made a promise that pretty sure paved the way to my ascension into sainthood this morning. It hasn't even been 24 hours since, so don't you think it's a bit too early to break it?

"I don't buy it," Cho Chang said.

"I don't know. She's being awfully normal today…" mused Parvati. "What do you think, Padma?"

"I think she'll do it tonight," Padma decided, toying with her spoon nervously. "Did you see how she's eating in a hurry? It's because she's planning on doing it later. We have to up our guard."

"Oh, please. Like I haven't anything better to do," I said amused and annoyed at the same time. "And 'she' is here. No need to refer to me as a third person!"

"I don't think she's gonna do anything. I mean, she had the opportunity this morning when we were still sleeping-" Harry said deep in thought. He's in detective-mode again. Speaking of…

"I really hope that you stopped spying on me anymore, Harry Potter or else I'm gonna steal your invisibility cloak," I threatened him. I can usually tolerate most of his behavior, especially those that has the potential to save humanity, but I draw the line at spying on my person. I am no Dark Lord after all. Duh.

"You steal my cloak all the time, 'Mione," he hedged.

"Well, I'm not gonna give it back this time!"

"Thanks for the warning. I'm gonna have it under lock and key… somewhere," he said, possibly wandering if there is any such place on earth where I can't fight my way inside. "Damn, alright," he finally relented.

Damn right, I know every place he ever went to and I taught him most of the spells he knew. Man, I'm awesome. Still, I'm not giving up without a confirmation.

"No more spying under cloaks, disillusionment charms or any muggle-style sleuthing?" I asked relentlessly.

"You have my word," he said seriously. But his eyes are betraying his thoughts, no doubt wondering how to get around it somehow. I snorted. Eh, it's not like I can do anything after last night. Even if he stops spying on me, I'm pretty sure the Headmaster will be keeping an eye on me so I better stay away from all the plotting and stupid journals for a while.

"I don't buy it, mate," Ron told Harry, still stewing about my suspicious behavior. Apparently, my benevolent act of not retaliating is being labeled as 'suspicious' now. What kind of backward people am I hanging out with anyway?

"Maybe she didn't do anything before when we were sleeping because she's planning to fool us into complacency. And when we let our guards down, that's when she'll send the beasts of hell, blasting our unwary, teensy, tiny brains into Poopnation!" Ron continued, getting carried away. " You little sneak!"he added, trying to pin me with an accusing stare.

"Whoa there, Ron," Ginny chided him, while looking at him as if he's lost it. "'Mione, dear, you aren't gonna hex us are you?" she asked uncertainly.

"Oh, honestly!" I exclaimed, getting a bit irritated.

"Oh my God. What if she went to the house elves again and poisoned our tea?" Astoria asked, getting worried.

"Or she could mess up our room! Don't you dare touch my toad, 'Mione!" Neville roared. "I don't want you near my carefully sorted closet either!"

"Well, why are you giving me ideas then?" I asked him, incensed.

Should I just go ahead and hex them anyway despite my earlier decision? That way, they'd be relieved from all these suspicions…

…Or … I'd stick to my promise on not retaliating and leave it alone. It'd be a sight to see them going paranoid over nothing. Hmmm… Is that a bit harsh? Eh. It's not like I'm doing anything bad. My inner bitch is cackling evilly. I sighed. My saintly self is vanishing by the second.

I shrugged and ate my last bite then left the table, already thinking about my ditching options. I have to hurry before some random Chaperone hauls me off my butt and deposits me at Pockard's office.

"Oi! Where are you going?!" asked an alarmed Ron. "Can we safely eat the food here?! Oi! 'Mione!"

I just flashed him a smile and hurried to my room.


It's 7:45 pm on the clock. I'm sitting on my bed, still ruminating on whether I should go to Pockard's office or devour everything on the Weasley's Skiving Snackbox.

I figured, what the hell, and ate the whole damn thing. I was impressed, because in no time at all, my nose started bleeding and my head felt dizzy and I puked all the way to the infirmary.

"Oh, dear, what happened?" asked Madam Pomfrey as soon as I walked through the door.

"I don't feel well," I said, which is true. I'll feel better when I go back to my bed, though, with the anti-dote stashed in my pocket.

"Hmmm. Bleeding nose, puking and, are you feeling dizzy?" she asked, while taking my temperature.

"Yes."

"Okay, lie down and I'll give you something for the fever and the dizziness," she said while rummaging on her cupboard.

"Um, I have couple sessions tonight," I started. "Do you mind signing this sheet to excuse me from taking it?" I asked in the most pitiful eyes I could muster while feebly holding up the most important sheet in existence.

She looked at me in suspicion. What up with the people today? Always suspicious! I hammed it up a bit more, coughing loudly and crossing my eyes a bit.

Something clicked on her freaking brain.

"You are such a bad liar. You took that blasted Weasly skive-boxes didn't you?"

I am so busted.

"Er, no, I just ate something and suddenly I started bleeding. Must be some kind of allergy?" I asked unconvincingly, desperately willing her to believe me, or at least just get me off the hook for once.

"Nice try," she rolled her eyes at me and went back to her cupboard. "This will make you feel better in no time, sweetie." She handed me the exact antidote to the Weasley's skiving sweets I took. Dang it! "You don't know how much the first years pulled that one on me. I was in over my head trying to figure out how an entire class could possibly be nosebleeding all at the same time. I sent the Weasley twins tons of Howlers but they don't stop selling those blasted things."

I desperately resorted to begging to no avail.

After she practically shoved the antidote in my mouth, she kicked me out of the infirmary. Well, someone needs to get laid. Maybe I'll send Stan Shunpike her way… or maybe Fenrir Greyback. Should I try resurrecting him somehow?

I huffed angrily. If this is how its gonna be, then I might just as well ditch blatantly. I was walking my way back to the general direction of the Gryffindor dorms when I ran into the person I didn't want to see the most-Malfoy.

I stopped walking, contemplating on hiding but he already saw me. Should I run? Okay... what is my problem? I've never run from him before.

I don't think this meeting is a coincidence. I can feel a prickling in my neck, warning me of someone who's probably watching me right now. Damn, Chaperones. They are already on the prowl.

"Where are you going? Pockard's office is that way," Malfoy said pointing towards the hallway I just left.

"Oh, er, I was gonna…" I haven't prepared any excuses yet so I'll just have to risk asking him, "Hey, wanna ditch?"

He raised an eyebrow. "You already got us Chaperoned and now you wanna ditch? I heard you got another detention. How many more of those are you willing to take? And please don't drag me to anymore of your wicked plots or are you gonna lure me away to do me in?" he asked mockingly. He is definitely holding a grudge about the murder thing.

"Haven't you heard? I never really meant to kill you, you know. Sure, I wanna kick your ass but I never intended to murder you. I still got my conscience," I said earnestly.

"Sure, sure. You know, I think you are overreacting about the whole marriage law thing because deep down you like me and you think I'll find your resistance cute or something." Whoa there, cocky bastard.

"Your logic is very enlightening," I replied drily. After what I did, he is entitled to some ranting. I'm already summoning my martyr face.

"I mean, I'm a Malfoy. The tragic hero who overcame the Dark. I was featured multiple times in Witch Weekly as the hottest bachelor in all of England, not to mention one of the wealthiest." Prat.

"You're also very modest." I observed brilliantly.

"You'll never find a treasure like me," he continued.

"You're so precious, I wanna bury you."

He stopped walking and smirked, then opened the door to his right.

"Oh, great, there you are! I was beginning to think you'd never show up!" said Mr. Pockard impatiently. "Now that everybody's here, we can begin. Sit, lovebirds, sit!"

Unbelievable! I was wondering about why he was so chatty when all the while he was leading me towards Pockard's office! He saw the look on my face and smugly sat on the smallest loveseat in the room (he didn't have a choice, really, it's the only one left) and patted the small space next to him and dared me to sit down. Of course now I can't back down so I smiled sweetly and shoved him to make more space for myself. My pride was wounded when he didn't even move an inch and I resigned to making myself comfortable with half my butt off the chair again.

"Now, I understand that we have been doing these counseling sessions but a few times, yet I am very disappointed at your progress," said Mr. Pockard, theatrically massaging his temples. "Communication is one of the things you people need to work on. May I ask, who among you have actually talked to each other these past few days without outside intervention?"

Nobody raised their hands.

"Who among you have at least greeted your partner when you saw them at the halls?"

Again, no show of hands. Shocking.

"See? You haven't even tried to do anything to make this easier. I suppose if I make you talk to each other, you wouldn't even know what to ask. So I jotted down things that you might, no, SHOULD ask your partners so you'll know them better. I better hear you communicating or you'll never leave the room."

He's unabashedly resorting to coercion. I sniffed, unimpressed.

He passed the sheets around. "This is what's going to happen: those sheets are enchanted so that unless you finish doing what it tells you to do, you won't be able to get out of your chair."

I found myself testing it and I realized I was glued to my seat! If I knew this was going to happen, I would've adjusted my position so it wouldn't be so uncomfortable. I can already feel my right butt cheek numbing. I gritted my teeth.

"Tap your wand at it and it will tell you what to do." Pockard then went to his seat, silently congratulating himself.

A quick look around told me that the other couples are also squirming uncomfortably on their seats. I can hear Dean cursing on the background.

"Let's get this over with," I muttered more for the benefit of my dying butt cheek.

Malfoy sighed and tapped his wand on the parchment.

**Greetings! Take turns asking your partner the questions that will be laid out before you. If one of you don't answer a question, you will be penalized. You won't be able to move on to the next question until the penalty is fulfilled.**

This just keeps getting better and better. What penalty could it possibly cook up when were all glued to our chairs?

**Question 1: Name your partner's two closest friends.**

"That's easy," Malfoy scoffed. "Your closest friends are Pothead and Weasel."

"Well, um, your closest friends are, uh, Pansy and Blaise?" I said, not really sure.

"Right."

The ink in the parchment dissolved, erasing the former words and another question popped out.

**Question 2: What do you think is your partner's greatest asset physically?**

I gagged. That's quite a leap from the first question! Malfoy coughed awkwardly. A minute passed in silence, I mean, who would answer that ridiculous question? The parchment was getting impatient and started the countdown.

**10…9…8…7…6…5…4**

"Oh, alright! Cool it Parchment or I'll burn you!" I shrieked.

Malfoy raised an eyebrow at me, amused.

"What? I don't like getting penalized! I have enough punishments to deal with," I defended myself. "Your greatest asset is… your hair." I told Malfoy with the utmost reluctance. I didn't want to compliment the git.

**Lie detected… 3…2…**

Oh my God! It has a built-in lie detector!

"Okay! Okay! Stop counting!" I shouted. I can feel the stares from the other couples but I am too worked up to care. "Malfoy you go first."

"What? No, you go first!" he argued, his ears going red.

"I won't tell unless you say it first," I said stubbornly. Oh, Merlin, I don't want to tell! God knows I don't. Horror of horrors, the parchment is resuming its damn countdown!

**…1…0**

"Alright! Alright!" Malfoy yelled, as panicked as I am. "Granger's greatest asset is her, er, lips. Dammit! It's her lips!"

There was a profound silence in the room, and then someone started chuckling. Malfoy is seriously looking for something to throw at the culprit.

I was stifling a grin from spreading from ear to ear. "My lips, huh…" I can't help smirking at him.

"It's not my fault you keep drawing attention to it! You're awfully fond of chewing your lower lip!" He said it like he's accusing me of something terrible.

"It's not my fault that you even took the time to notice it!" I argued. " Oh, forget it…"

I'm telling myself to quit thinking about it as I was preparing for my turn to answer when…

**Sorry, you answered too late.**

Malfoy's jaw dropped, his eyebrows are in danger of disappearing into his scalp. "You have got to be kidding me!" he cried, aghast, his hands on his head.

My joy at avoiding the question was quickly replaced with incredulity as I read the penalty.

**Penalty: Hold hands and stare into each other's eyes without saying anything for one minute. Don't close your eyes/blink too much or the timer will restart. If your eyes stray even for a second, your partner gets to choose what punishment to give. The timer will automatically start when you're in position.**

Blast it all! We'll never be able to leave the room.

Centuries later, people will find our skeletons rotting on this very place, with our butts still stuck to the bloody loveseat.