Chapter 21: It Goes On

11:30PM Saturday, January 9th, 1999 – Hogwarts

Hermione

After meeting Astoria as Aremo's fiancée to be last Wednesday, Astoria had decided to sit next to me at dinner Saturday evening, just talking softly about Aremo. When I had told Neville and Luna during the train ride, they'd responded very supportive. I had told them about everything because I needed to have some others who I knew and trusted, other than the Slytherin boys. When I arrived in my dorm room with Luna that night, Hannah, Susan and Lisa started to ask me all these questions about why I changed my hair and if I'd done it for a boy. Pansy, Daphne and Tracey didn't join the conversation but listened in closely and I didn't feel comfortable talking about it. When Luna intervened and it hadn't helped, Astoria had ordered quiet because she wanted to sleep. I almost offered to put up a silencing charm around her bed, but then I understood that she'd said it for me, so after mouthing a 'thank you' I fell asleep and the calm was restored.

08:15AM Monday, January 11th, 1999 – Hogwarts

Hermione

I rubbed my eyes. I was on my way to Alchemy when I suppressed a yawn because I hadn't slept well the past few nights. Yesterday evening I was only asleep for a few hours when I'd woken up from a nightmare. Instead of bloody limbs, I'd seen Aremo's cut-off head flying past me. Thankful for the silencing charm around my bed I slowly remembered myself that it was just a dream. My shaking stopped after a few minutes of deep breaths. By then it was 4AM and I decided to leave my bed and read some extra on Alchemy in the 8th years common room. The facts and new information had calmed me down and I was okay when I went in the shower and then downstairs for breakfast. Breakfast had been pleasantly quiet. Luna and Neville had been talking to each other about Neville's plants but I hadn't felt up to joining their conversation. After breakfast it was time for Alchemy. While walking, I pulled my curls into a muggle ponytail so they wouldn't be in the way.

"Hey, Hermione! Wait for us," I heard Blaise's voice say from behind me.

I turned around and saw the Blaise and Draco walking behind me. Draco's hair seemed to be longer since the holidays and it was weird that I only just noticed. I furrowed my eyebrows and waited for a second for them to walk next to me.
"Good morning Draco, Blaise."

I yawned again.

Just when I wanted to ask where Theo was, he appeared on my left, panting.

"Are you ready for Alchemy?" Theo asked friendly between breaths.

I looked sideways to Theo, his tie was askew and the top three buttons of his shirt were unbuttoned. His hair was tousled and his cheeks were red. My thoughts immediately went to Lisa Turpin, Theo's girlfriend. And now I thought of them, I hadn't seen neither of them at breakfast.

"Congrats Theo," Blaise laughed hard.

"Fuck off Blaise," Theo bit back.

I raised my eyebrows at the language but said nothing.

"Well, I don't see why you, fucker, get to be cranky while I haven't had some in a WEEKS! You just-"
"BLAISE! Shut it," Draco hissed and sent me an apologetic look.

I rolled my eyes in disbelief and looked at Blaise. Then Blaise blinked a few times at Draco and sent me a wicked grin.

"Please excuse my rude words Hermione," Blaise said flirtatiously and winked at me to emphasize it.

I laughed at him, knowing he wasn't serious. Draco pushed his hair back in a frustrated manner, as if he was offended for some vague reason. Theo sent me an apologizing look as well and I shrugged as if nothing had happened.

"I'm ready for Alchemy, Theo. Are you?" I asked friendly trying not to think about the cause of his askew clothing, crooked hair and blushing demeanour.

"Completely ready."

When we entered the classroom and Draco sat down next to me. I took my book, quill and parchment out of my bag, ready to take notes and Draco did the same. Theo and Blaise were discussing something that I couldn't hear precisely and I turned to face Draco. Just when I wanted to ask him if he knew what we were going to do this lesson, Professor Slughorn entered.

"Good morning to all of you!" Professor Slughorn's voice sounded from behind us.

I turned around on my seat and looked at Professor Slughorn. He was wearing an old orange pair of robes. I nodded my head.

"Good morning, Professor," I said quickly.

The three boys said nothing and the Professor smiled friendly.

"I hope you all had a nice Christmas and New Year, I certainly did. To celebrate the new year, I have a small gathering at 7 on Friday the 29th and I'd like you all to come," he looked intently at all four of us. I rolled my eyes and feared immediately that Cormac would be there. But then I calmed down and knew that Cormac was one year above us so he wasn't in school anymore, I sighed in relief.

"We'd love to come Professor!" Blaise said enthusiastically.

"Good. Now, on with the lesson. Since you've been practicing with Spagyric so well, I thought we could do another assignment regarding this subject."

After Alchemy, it was time for Transfiguration.

My Mondays were the same every week. First Alchemy, then Transfiguration, lunch, one free period, Potions, Care for Magical Creatures and Astronomy followed by dinner. Care for Magical Creatures' theoretical class had been interesting. Ernie MacMillan, Michael Corner, Tracey Davis, Astoria, Luna and I were the only ones that followed the class. Professor Grubbly-Plank explained something of the origin of magical creatures and this was the first time the origin of the magical creatures was mentioned. During Care for Magical Creatures Astoria had, to my great surprise, sat down next to me while sending me a warm smile. Normally Luna would sit next to me, but Astoria was here earlier and when Luna sat down next to Tracey Davis, I couldn't say no. Not that I wanted to, but it still felt awkward. Still, I was glad that she had sat down because at the end of class, I found that she was a warm, nice person to be around with a firm opinion about right and wrong. I almost forgot that she was engaged to my brother (it felt weird even thinking it), but I was glad he was. She was a sweetheart.

8:15PM Monday, January 25th, 1999 – Hogwarts (two weeks later)

Hermione

The past two weeks had been hard work and little fun. All the classes gave out important essays and assignments so every free minute we had, were spent in the library studying. I had made a list of all the things I wanted to do before the N.E.W.T.s and it was just sheer luck that I was on schedule. I had answered Ginny's, Harry's, Ron's, Aremo's and my parent's letters yesterday and it had taken too long. All my time that I had free from studying was used to write them back.

Today after dinner, Draco and I worked on the Alchemy assignment in the 8th years common room. The silence surrounded us, the common room was empty except for us studying here and I was glad that there weren't any more people around to distract us. Normally we would sit in the library but Blaise and Theo were working on the same assignment so, we didn't want to be overheard. The common room had comfier sitting chairs than the library and a big table. Draco sat on the adjacent side I was sitting on so we could share the large red book that we borrowed from the library. We were both reading a different part of the page for background information on our new assignment but I couldn't seem to focus on the words. Maybe the bad nights of sleep and the day full of classes and schoolwork had taken its toll on my concentration.

I moved my eyes over Draco's demeanour. He pushed his hair back for the 11th time in the hour and he bowed further over the book.

When I heard that Astoria was first engaged to Draco, I began to see him in a whole different light. Draco seemed happy about Aremo's and Astoria's 'upcoming engagement', but other than that he hadn't said much about it. Aremo and Astoria were super happy about it, but never a word about it from Draco. When I'd spoken to Astoria the past two weeks, I found out that she was smart and really sweet. She had a fondness of plants and animals, that's why she followed Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology with me and on top of that she actually was a defender of equal rights for muggleborns, halfbloods and purebloods. And Astoria was gorgeous, her dark blonde straight hair was perfectly tamed and the rest of her face was completely symmetrical. Draco should be happy with Astoria and I wondered why would he let her go just because my brother wanted her? Maybe he didn't like her for the big mouth concerning equal rights? But she was gorgeous enough to ignore that and Draco was smart enough to handle that side of her.

I tried to focus on the words on the page one more time but I couldn't read the letters anymore.

"My concentration is gone," I said while moving away my notes.

"Hmm," he didn't look up from the book and dipped his green quill in the jar of ink and wrote something down.

"Hey Draco?"

He looked up from his notes and moved his grey eyes to me.

"Yes Hermione?"

"We are friends right?" I asked cautiously looking at his reaction.

He put down his quill, said nothing and his shoulders tensed.

"Why are you asking me this?" his voice sounded cautious and detached.

"Well… I want to ask you something. You know, as a friend…"

I could hit myself for being so vague. He'd probably think I'm weird.

"Oh."

He relaxed and leaned back in his chair.

"I'd like to think were friends, so you can ask me anything. I can always choose not to answer," he said calmly.

"Why did you let Astoria go?" I asked Draco.

Friends could ask that right? And Draco and I were friends. We'd studied together since the vacation. He stopped being a prat and turned out to be intellectually challenging for me. It was refreshing after studying with Harry and Ron all the time. I didn't need to motivate him to get started on his homework and that alone was really refreshing.

Then, his eyes looked into mine. Was that anger I saw? I felt a nervous tingle run over my back.

His eyes were almost luminous grey and it felt like he could read my thoughts immediately. I swear his eyes drew me closer, either his eyes came closer or mine moved closer to his, but then reality hit me. I blinked nervously and looked away to the large red book in front of us. I swallowed soundlessly and took a deep breath in. I didn't know what happened but it was probably because I was so tired… Yes, that must be it.

When he looked around the common room and saw that it was completely empty he sighed. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him shift graciously in his chair and moved closer to me and said softly: "Well… I didn't like Astoria in that way, neither did Astoria like me in that way. Our engagement was arranged by our parents since we were kids and not because we wanted it to. So when Aremo was interested in her, I decided to offer her the chance to choose him. She did and we broke off the engagement. It was the easiest choice to make and on top of that, Aremo is a prince so he can claim anyone he wants. Not that he did, but he could."

I thought about his words for a few seconds. A prince can choose whoever they want? Why wouldn't he? And no one ever told me that… The naïve side of me wondered if that wasn't a normal thing to think, that one could choose whoever he wanted. But now that I thought of it of course the purebloods had made rules about princes. And what about a princess, me? I gulped in my thoughts. I mean I wasn't ready to claim any title, princess or not (the press would have a field day) and wasn't it logical that I could choose to marry whoever I wanted too? On top of that, Aremo never said a word about the technicalities of his 'engagement' and I never met his attorney either for that matter. I shook the naïve side off of me and knew that no one in the pureblood families were able to choose their own partner without being ignored by the rest of the family. For some reason I thought of Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

"I'm glad a prince can choose whoever he wants. What about princesses? Does that count for me as well?" I asked softly trying to sound politically correct but still afraid that the answer was 'no'.

Draco finally looked me in the eye again, sent me an apologetic look and shook his head.

"What do you mean no?!" I said louder than I intended.

There was no law that could force me to marry someone I didn't agree on. Especially not an outdated law and that would probably be so. Knowing the purebloods, I had to marry the best pureblood around and have like a thousand children or something.

"A prince can 'claim' anyone he wants, even if that person is spoken for, like Astoria was. I didn't know at the time that Aremo was a prince, but I didn't want to marry Astoria in the first place. A prince doesn't have to explain or account for his choice of bride or groom. No proposal contract needs to be made, the prince can choose his own life-partner and would not be held by any consequences. A princess doesn't have the same choice."

Draco paused and I waited impatiently.

"If you want to marry someone, you need approval of an independent male authoritative figure who does not gain or loses anything when you do or don't marry."

"What? So a random man has to give his approval before I can get engaged? That is ridiculous!" I said appalled.

I looked at his face, which stood shocked. Draco opened his mouth to say something, but shut it again.

"Don't you agree?" I asked incredulous.

Draco

Her cheeks were red and her eyes stood fierce and indignant. She wanted me to agree with her and I did, sort of.

"Well, it is tradition after all but I am not very fond of the current traditions," I said cautiously and looked around if someone had entered. I felt uncomfortable to discuss this with her here in the common room where everyone could just enter and overhear. But my thoughts were disrupted when her eyebrows drew closer to each other, thinking. I moved my eyes over her waterfall of gorgeous curls and forced myself to look back at her face which was surprisingly still close to mine and every few minutes I could smell something sweet coming from her when she moved.

"Well, no one knows that I'm a princess so luckily I don't have to deal with that," she said, obviously feeling proud of herself.

"Look, Hermione. You do not have plans of getting married soon right? You want to get all your N.E.W.T.s and that is your first priority, so focus on that. I understand why your brother is in a hurry to get married. As the boss of his company it gives him more credit when he has a family, but he does it because he is in love with Astoria and that is nice for him. And you… no one knows that you are the princess. You do not have to decide about anything now," I whispered, not sure what else to say.

I couldn't think Hermione actually wanting to marry a pureblood, she had been quite vocal about her opinions of them the last few weeks since I was considered her friend and I knew that forcing her to marry someone wasn't going to work, ever.

"I guess you are right about that," she whispered back.

She looked straight into my eyes and her hazel brown ones somehow seemed a little happier than before. The dark circles around her eyes distracted me from staring in them for too long and I wondered if she had been sleeping badly. Since Hermione had forgiven me, I had slept better and better even though the nightmares never completely disappeared. I wondered what her nightmares were about, even though I was pretty sure I knew the occurring themes and almost shivered. Along the way of getting to know Hermione better, I started to see a pattern that Hermione calmed down when she was presented with facts. And I've really known her for such a short period of time, actually being around her and interacting with her, she always made to do lists to clear her mind. Planning made her calm down, planning and facts made her clam down.

"Aren't you two cosy! Isn't that sweet Theo?" Blaise almost shouted through the common room.

"Yes, I'd say very sweet," Theo grinned.

I backed away from Hermione, suddenly realizing that we were sitting kind of close, closer than 'study-partners' and she backed away as well, with a small blush appearing on her cheeks.

"We'll still kick your ass with the assignment," Hermione said quickly and with one swift movement of her wand, her belongings were placed in her bag and her bag was floating in the air behind her while she walked to the girls' dormitories.

I turned to look at Theo and Blaise, half thankful and half irritated and not knowing why.

Meanwhile at Shafiq Manor

Harry

"Mr. Harry Potter, welcome to my humble abode," Aremo said friendly while I dusted off my robes.

I looked around the small but fancy dining room. I saw a long table and two doors at each end. Next to the door on the left was one huge window, followed by a wall with a portrait followed by another huge window. The portrait caught my eye immediately.

"I will introduce you to my parents later when they return, for now please follow me to the living room," Aremo said quickly.

We walked towards the right door which lead to a hall with a huge staircase. I noticed the very faint smell of paint before I had a chance to look at more, I was already in the living room.

"Have a seat, would you like something to drink?" Aremo asked after he gestured me to sit down.

I sat down on the brown chair and felt a little uncomfortable. I saw a liquor cabinet in the right corner, which contained half full bottle of several types of liquor. When he cleared his throat, I looked back at him. He looked so much like Hermione that I wasn't even sure how I couldn't have recognized him when I met him at the quidditch party.

"I would like some water please, I have to be at the office in about an hour, so I don't have much time…" I said apologetically.

Aremo had tried to contact me earlier but every time I was working or away on auror business. When I received his message by owl, I made an appointment with him hence why I was here now. But I still didn't know why he asked for me specifically, or why I shouldn't tell the rest.

"Water is on its way," he said friendly and he sat down at a chair opposite of mine.

"May I ask why you wanted to meet me? Because if you wanted to get to know me, we could've invited Ron and Ginny too," I suggested.

Aremo now looked straight at me and his face stood emotionless, I couldn't read or know what he was thinking at this moment. I felt my wand getting hot in my chest pocket and even though I had no reason to attack him, he seemed to radiate some sort of aggression.

"Mr. Potter, excuse me, Harry. I have heard that Gryffindors, such as yourself, praise honesty and directness, is this correct?" Aremo asked with raised eyebrows.

"This is correct," I affirmed cautious.

I didn't know why but I felt the need to talk in better English with Aremo than I normally did with Ron or the other aurors.

"Good, then I hope you don't mind me saying what I want from this visit from you as a friend of Hermione's, not as an auror," his voice sounded cold and calculating and his eyebrows stayed high which made him seem like he was in charge here.

I nodded and said nothing.

"I want to know where my sister was tortured. I want to know who was responsible and I want to know if that person is dead already or if I should hire a hitman to kill that person," his voice sounded business-like and emotion-free as if we were talking about the price of cauldron cakes.

I thought back of that night immediately and I swallowed. I felt a stab when I was reminded of Hermione's scream and Dobby, stabbed with the dagger and I swallowed the emotion down again. I hadn't seen this coming at all.

"I don't know if it's my place to tell you," I said slowly.

"But you were there?!" he asked a little louder than before.

No one had known that Hermione was tortured, no one except for the people who were present there, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Hermione's parents. I guessed that she mentioned something to him about this. His demeanour changed from business-like to pure aggression even though his voice still sounded controlled and his face didn't show anything. But I knew from intuition that this was one angry, angry man.

"I was there and I don't feel comfortable telling you more," I said softly.

"Who was the culprit?!" he hissed.

"Like I said, I don't feel comfortable telling you this when I haven't discussed this with Hermione. It is her choice for someone to know. If she doesn't want you to know, I'm not going to tell you…"

"She told me that she would tell me later and I want to know if I could lessen her horror by sending out a hitman!" he growled at me.

I understood.

I didn't even have to listen to the words to understand, because I had felt the same way, right at that moment but also afterwards. When Mrs. Weasley had killed the culprit, the monster, her, I felt a *pang* of justice in my chest for Neville's parent's, for Sirius, for Dobby and for Hermione.

"The one who tortured her is already dead and that is the last thing I am going to say about this matter. Now, do you want to get to know me? Because I'd like to know you. I know you have a family business? Shafiq Incorporations is your company, am I correct?" I asked quickly.

Aremo snorted and narrowed his eyes at me. I straightened my back, ready to jump up when he would, but to my great surprise he didn't. He took a few deep breaths and leaned back in his chair.

"Thank you for that information. I will wait for Hermione to tell me where she was tortured so I can burn the place to the ground. I know it was a Manor so that narrows it down. And now, to get on with a more pleasant matter. Yes, I would like to get to know my sister's friends."

I had followed his demeanour all the while he had spoken, but I saw a slight twinge, his finger tapped the seat's arm, every few words. Even though he tried to look relaxed I had a feeling he was faking it. If my instincts were right and Aremo was lying about letting it go and he was going to investigate, then I needed to warn Malfoy and Hermione quickly in a way that Aremo wouldn't discover.

I don't know why but for some reason I couldn't quite seem to grasp Aremo's behaviour. One moment he seemed calm and in control, the next moment he still tried to be in control but I felt like he never truly spoke the truth. I was wondering what his deal was. What was his story?

7:45PM Tuesday, January 26th, 1999 – Hogwarts (one day later)

Hermione

When we had dinner, Luna, Neville and I walked to the 8th years common room where I had agreed to meet Draco for Alchemy. I had been working on the rest of my schoolwork throughout the day and that was almost done except for the Transfiguration homework what I would do in the morning.
Neville and Luna decided to join me at the huge table, both working on their Herbology homework what I had already finished last weekend.

"So Hermione, who are you going to the Slug party with?" Luna asked while she took out her books from her bags. I thought about that and I didn't know that it was a party party, I just thought that it was a dinner party like the last few times.

"No one? I thought it was a dinner party," I said to Luna.

Neville looked up and shook his head.

"I thought so too but I heard from Blaise that it was a dance party. I'm taking Hannah, just as friends of course," Neville's deep voice sounded while a blush appeared on his cheeks.

I smiled at him, I never knew he and Hannah were even speaking to each other but then I got instantly reminded of Mr. Abbott, who Neville was going to meet during the holidays.

"That reminds me, what did Mr. Abbott want from you Neville?" I asked him curiously.

Luna opened her mouth to say something when Neville shook his head at her. He looked around the common room, which was empty except for us three when he said: "Hermione, you have been honest with us about your situation and I will be honest to you too."

It seemed like Neville hesitated to tell but then he scratched his chin and moved a bit closer.

"Lord Abbott asked me to marry Hannah."

My eyes widened.

"What?" I asked baffled.

"It's not that uncommon for sacred 28 members to have arranged marriages and well, you know. It's not like any girl would willingly marry me. But she can always decline, she's way too pretty for me anyway."

"Nonsense Neville, any girl would be happy to have you," Luna said smiling.

"Yes, that's completely true Neville. You have so much to offer!" I agreed immediately.

And it was true, Neville was a catch. He's a good friend and even though he was still a little too insecure that was part of his appeal, he was good-looking without even knowing it, and that was cute in a way.

Just when I wanted to ask more about Neville's sort of arrangement, the portrait opened and I recognized our Ravenclaw Head Boy who I thought whose name was Bob Gaynor. He was followed immediately by Draco, Blaise, Theo and Lisa.

Bob sent me a smile and walked to our table, winking at me. He instantly reminded me of Cormac McLaggen but I smiled back friendly, trying to be polite. He had an average height, his hair was raven black, just like Harry's, and seemed average in almost everything.

"Hi Hermione, I don't think we've ever met but I am Bob Gaynor."

He extended his right hand and I stood up and shook his hand. Then Draco, Blaise, Theo and Lisa were standing right behind him and were sending me mixed looks. I turned back to Bob and smiled shortly.

"Hi Bob, I'm Hermione. Was there something you needed from me?" I asked when he kept on smiling at me.

"I was wondering…" Bob started.

Blaise suddenly had a couching fit to which Theo clapped him on his back and Bob looked over his shoulder to give Blaise an annoyed look. I raised my eyebrows at Bob's behaviour, not knowing what was so important. Blaise stopped coughing and shook his head at me, Draco looked straight at me and Theo and Lisa could only look at Bob's back. Then every piece of the puzzle fell into place. Bob was going to ask me to the Slug party and the Slytherins didn't want me going with him. I looked back at a now slightly irritated Bob and sent him a huge smile.

"Bob, what did you wonder because as you can see I'm still busy studying for my N. .s," I gestured to the table.

"Yes, I was wondering if you wanted me to accompany you to Professor Slughorn's party," Bob asked quickly.

"Oh!" I said, acting surprised.

I thought about that for a second and found his wording very strange as if he was doing me a favour by asking me which irritated me immediately. And when I looked behind him and I saw Blaise, Theo and Draco all shake no, I doubted no longer and sent Bob a huge smile. I placed my hand on his and said: "Thank you for asking me Bob, but I'm afraid I'm going with someone else. Good luck finding someone who wants to go," I said in my sweetest voice.

I felt like a bitch for saying it in such a manner but somehow I felt like he deserved it.

"But…" Bob stammered, clearly not expecting this answer. His eyes darted from my smile to my eyes and I sat back down at the table, giving him a look as if I was waiting for him to leave.

"Who are you going with then?" Bob asked quickly, looking straight at me in a conniving way.

"I don't see how that's any of your business Gaynor," Draco said from behind him.

Bob turned around to send Draco an angry look but Draco didn't even gave him a blink of his eye, neither did Theo and Blaise. Then their heads turned in the direction of the portrait hole.

"Gaynor, if you're done losing your bet, get the fuck out of our common room!" a female voice said with such authority that I moved my head to look at the portrait hole.

Pansy Parkinson, with Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis by her side, sent Bob a death glare even Molly Weasley would be proud of and Bob narrowed his eyes at Pansy and left the common room quickly.

"Granger, I never thought you would be that good in burning people, welcome to the dark side," Pansy grinned evilly and winked at me. I was appalled at the gesture but grinned back quickly, not knowing what was happening.

"Thanks."

"Oh, and don't worry about Gaynor, he won't be able to find a date for the Slug party, because not a single girl wants to go with him after they heard he bet on you," Pansy sneered and looked at her perfectly green polished nails as if she accomplished that all by herself and then she moved passed us and walked to the dormitories, quickly followed by Daphne and Tracey.

I stood up and walked over to the Slytherin boys.

"What did she mean with a bet on me?" I asked them quickly.

Theo and Blaise looked at Draco expectantly and when Draco said nothing, Blaise cleared his throat.

"We just overheard him having a bet with the other 7th year boys that he was going to take you to Slughorn's party and take you on a date the next Hogsmeade weekend. He was going to win 14 galleons if he could pull it off. Apparently he hadn't anticipated that we would overhear him and tell you to say no…" Blaise grinned.

"They bet on me? What am I a prize?!" I hissed angrily.

"That's what they thought," Theo said softly.

"To us you're just a good friend Hermione," Luna said from the table.

I looked at Luna's innocent glance at me and Neville's affirmative nod and looked back at the Slytherins and Lisa.

"You are a friend Hermione," Blaise said and winked playfully at me I think to hide his seriousness.

"But who are you going to go to the Slug party with then?" Neville asked softly.

"I think I'll go alone, it's not like I'm going to be there long anyway," I said honestly, not feeling up to it without Harry and Ron.

Blaise spluttered.

"What? Hermione! You can't tell him that you are going with someone else and then show up alone! I'll go with you," Blaise said quickly.

"Weren't you going with Tracey?" Draco said grinning.

"Well, I haven't asked her yet," Blaise said quickly.

I raised my eyebrows at Blaise, to find out if he was serious about this and when he smiled genuinely I decided that he was.

"If this is a serious suggestion than I accept… under one condition," I added quickly.

Blaise grinned and sent me a humorous look.

"Of course, what's the condition?" he asked.

"That we're going as friends," I stated simply, thinking of Ginny.

"Absolutely!" Blaise said happily and when Lisa and Theo excused themselves, Draco took me to the side of the common room and and Blaise walked over to Luna and Neville.

Draco placed his arms on my shoulders and turned me with my back to the big table.

"Hermione, how would you feel about playing matchmaker with me?" Draco grinned sly.

I looked in to his eyes which radiated fun and some other emotion I couldn't clarify. I looked back at Blaise and remembered Ginny and him being into each other, for real.

"I might be interested," I whispered slowly.

"Isn't this a perfect opportunity to get Blaise to take Weaslette? I don't think Slughorn will care if she comes from out of the school and then she can go with Blaise and I can take you!" Draco whispered and it sounded like he thought it was a pretty good plan.

I decided to tease him a little bit and grinned at him while looking into his grey eyes.

"Do you want to go with me so badly Malfoy?" I whispered back.

His eyes moved from my left to my right and back and then a hint of joy flashed through them, again with something else I couldn't recognize.

"You wish Granger," he stopped to grin and continued, "but I think you forgot that I still have to get back at you for throwing the snow in my face. I can forget the whole thing if you do this for me, that way Blaise won't be such a pain in my ass anymore," he smirked playfully.

"I thought you weren't into guys, but if Blaise hurts your ass…" I blurted out before I could think.

Draco's eyes widened and his mouth opened just slightly in shock.

"That was not what I…" Draco muttered shocked.

"Oh calm down, I'll go with you. I'll sent Ginny a letter tonight," I whispered happily and walked back to the table.

"Remember our deal Granger," Draco said loud through the common room which caused Blaise, Luna and Neville to look at Draco and me.

"What is this?" Blaise asked us smiling.

"Nothing that concerns you Blaise, let's go. Hermione, I'll be down in a few minutes for Alchemy," Draco said.

I nodded and sat back down at the table when Draco and Blaise walked away. I quickly tore off a piece of parchment, dipped my quill in the ink and wrote a quick note to Ginny. I looked at Neville and Luna who were both looking at me.

"Who are you going with Luna?" I asked her curiously.

"She won't say. She's been secretive about it all week," Neville said smiling.

"You'll see it at the party this Friday," Luna said, sending both Neville and I a great smile.

Soooo! Finally this chapter is done! I have tried and tried but I wasn't sure about this chapter, editing and rewriting it all the *effing* time so here you go! I hope you enjoy it! I know I certainly like the playfulness that Draco suddenly seems to have :D! And thanks, as always for all your reviews, follows, favs!

Love, Aimee

PS. The next chapter will definitely not take so long as this one!