Malfoy,

Did you tell Ron? I didn't. He wasn't available when I tried to tell him.

Granger

P.S. No more notes.

Hermione sent the message off, not expecting a reply. She went to sit on the chair and go over the list for tonight; she decided she would get there early, to see if Draco did the same.

Hermione had just sat down on one of the chairs when an owl came through the open window, making her jump. The owl flew to the table and stood there expectantly, waiting for Hermione to pull the letter off his leg. She unrolled the parchment and read:

Granger,

Yes, I told Weasel. Don't worry... What made him unavailable? Did he confess his undying love for Potter, and then did they go off together to elope?

Malfoy

P.S. God, Granger, no more letters. Anyone would think you loved me, ha!

Hermione couldn't help but laugh; she had to reply. This was probably the longest they had ever gone with out arguing, even though they didn't really have a chance to call each other. They were too busy trying to sort out the Prefect meeting.

Malfoy,

No, Ron and Harry were not engaged in any way that you would class as "gay", be it a wedding or anything else, and he did not confess any undying love for anyone.

Granger

P.S. I think you will find that it isn't me that loves you. Mull that over, and tell me what you think I mean!

Hermione smirked as she tied the letter to the owl's leg. He hooted before spreading his wings and soaring off. Hermione sat down on one of the dining chairs to await the reply. It came rather quickly.

Granger!

I do not love you! And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you so, "'ave it'. As that woman off the Muggle T.V. show said.

Malfoy

P.S. Now, really stop with the letters. Blaise is getting suspicious.

Now she really did have to reply, just to annoy him.

My dear Drakie-poo,

I'm going to write nonsense in this letter; I just want Blaise to think you're getting love letters. I think I might sign it with "Pansy", you know, just so he thinks you're an item again now. Anyway, I have to go, I need to sort that list out now, so I know what we should mention first. And then you know McGonagall will come barging in after five minutes with more news, like normal. Bye.

Lots of love,yourPansy

P.S. Yep. I do love you, and I'll never leave you again, Drakie-poo.

She laughed as she tied the note to the owl. She walked over to the window and sent it out. She knew Draco wouldn't find that funny; he hated that nickname Pansy had given him. But she couldn't wait to read his reply. Again, it came rather quickly. Hermione ran over as the owl sat down on the table. Pulling the parchment from the owl's leg, she read it quickly and laughed. It said:

GRANGER!

Thanks. Now he's upstairs in his room, scared. He thinks if I'm going out with Pansy, that means she'll be hanging around with us a lot. So he said I'm not allowed to stay in his common room tonight, so it looks like I'm back with you! Just when I thought life could get no worse – I'm only joking, Granger, don't worry. You're not that bad.

Anyway, I'm going to go and bribe Blaise down from his room...and it's nearly time for the meeting. Make sure you're there on time.

Malfoy

Hermione put the parchment down on the table and looked at the clock. He was right. It was just past seven. Grabbing the list from the sofa, she decided to go down to the meeting room now, in case he was already there. She really wanted to talk to him face to face.

When she reached the meeting room, Malfoy was indeed there. She walked in and dumped the list, to which she had added quite a few notese, on his knee and sat down next to him. She wanted to talk to him, but she was stubborn as hell and would not speak first; she would wait for him to speak. He did just that, after a few minutes of silence.

"Erm, hey, Granger. We may be one Prefect short tonight," Draco told her, trying to keep a straight face.

"Why?" Hermione asked. Oh, gods, he didn't tell Ron – he lied! she thought.

"Blaise refused to come out of the dorm. He's convinced Pansy will hang around with us now – all because of your letter," Draco smirked.

Oh, that's not too bad, Hermione thought. She still hadn't told Draco she was going to the ball with Blaise, and she didn't think Blaise had told him either. But here, he might mention something.

When all the Prefects had finally filed in, Hermione began to talk.

"Hello, and welcome back to Hogwarts." she began.

"Yeah, what she said." Draco waved, looking as bored as ever.

"Today we've called a meeting to discuss the ball. We need to start assigning jobs to you all, as the Halloween ball isn't too far off and we need to start planning. We need people to volunteer to do things like decorating," Hermione said, just before McGonagall opened the door and passed a note to Hermione.

"Really, Professor. You should know better. You aren't allowed to pass notes, especially when we're talking,"Draco joked, making the Prefects, including Ron, laugh and bringing a slight smile to McGonagall's face.

"I believe I'm not the only one who has been sending notes to day, Mr Malfoy. I must leave now; make sure to cover the items on the list, Miss Granger, Mr Malfoy," McGonagall said, and she walked out of the door.

"Okay, so Malfoy has the list here and he'll tell you the jobs that need to be done," Hermione said, pointing at Draco.

"Right. We need some volunteers to decorate the hall for the upcoming ball," Draco told them, looking around.

"I'll do it," called one of the Hufflepuff Prefects.

"Yeah, me too," called a Ravenclaw.

"I don't help minding, neither does Ron," Ginny added.

"Yeah! What she said," Ron agreed.

"Okay, we need one more, and if no one else wants to help, I suppose you four will have to manage," Hermione said, looking around. When no one else put their hand up or shouted out she said, "Okay, so it's just you four. I suggest you speak to Professor McGonagall about when you can begin and what decorations you're allowed to put up."

"Granger and I will be be in charge of the menu and booking the band," Draco said, addressing all the Prefects.

"Although you can add suggestions – tell us the band you want, or request a certain food," Hermione added.

"Anyway, now she's stopped droning on – we have to arrange the time. I think eleven thirty to twelve sounds good, what about you?" Draco said with a straight face.

"No! Draco, we have to have a serious time. How about seven 'till twelve thirty?" Hermione asked, glaring at Draco.

"Five and a half hours of dancing! Five and a bloody half hours? Not a chance," Draco spluttered, making all the other Prefects laugh.

"Draco, you don't have to just dance, you know," Hermione told him, shaking her head and trying to hold her laughter in.

"Anyway, the other jobs are to arrange the curfews for the different year groups. I personally think we should all go bed early," Draco said, still not taken with the idea of having to dance and sit around for five hours.

"I think first and second years should leave the hall at nine thirty because they're the youngest. Then the thirds and fourths at eleven thirty, then the rest of us at twelve thirty. How does that sound?" Hermione asked. Draco was meant to be going through the jobs, but he was making a mess of it and wasn't being sensible.

The Prefects in the room all nodded. Draco looked annoyed.

"There's no way in hell I'm sitting in a hall for that amount of time. I'll leave with the first years," he announced.

"Draco, you're being annoying." Hermione glared at him."Anyway, what jobs are left?"

"Well, next we have to arrange any activities we want and set a date," Draco told her, looking at the list in front of him.

"Okay, now, does anyone want anything special or extra doing at the ball?" Hermione asked looking around. When no one made any movement or said anything, she carried on, "How about a date – what day should the ball be held?"

"I think the ball should be on the closest Saturday to Halloween. Then we don't have to worry about school and we have all day to get ready," Ginny said. Some of the other Prefects, mainly the girls, agreed.

"Okay, what about the rest of you? Draco, will you write some of this down, please?" Hermione asked.

"I agree with Weasley's idea," one of the Prefects said quickly, and the rest nodded their heads.

"Okay, so it's on a Saturday. We all have curfews, we've decided we don't want any extra events to be added during the ball, we've set a time for the actual ball, so – what's left?" Hermione asked, looking at Draco.

"Well, we're meant to decide what we want to do during the ball. Anyone have any ideas?" Draco asked, looking around. No one said anything. "And then there's that note from McGonagall," Draco said, looking at Hermione.

"Oh! The note just says there are to be no costumes whatsoever. It's a formal dance," Hermione said, looking over the note in her hand.

"All right, I think every one got that. Can we go now?" Draco whined.

"Yeah, everyone go ahead and take off," Hermione sighed.

"You heard her. Leave, damn it – I want to go to bed," Draco moaned. Everyone laughed and filed out of the room, leaving Hermione and Draco there alone.

Right, here it is! Sorry it took so damned long! Forgive me, I need your help again, do you want the next chapter to be them all getting ready for the ball, then the one after that the actual ball, or do you want me to have the Prefects decorating the hall? Your choice, but, I can't even begin to write the next chapter 'till I've been told. PM or Review to let me know.

Note: The one with the most votes it what I'll be doing, so, say that Decorating gets 3 votes, but the ball gets 5. The ball wins:D

Ohh, Disclaimer: Still don't own it :D