A/N: Told you the next chapter would be up soon!
Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's not mine. The only thing that's mine is the plot.
Hermione did not, in fact, "help" Blaise and Malfoy study. She had resolved to not encourage the new Slytherin Policy of Friendliness, especially with those two. Instead, she stayed in her room that night…and every night after that for a week, for Blaise had taken it upon himself to ask her to help them every day.
The one positive of the whole shenanigan was that the Slytherins - particularly Malfoy - were being nice. Sure, it was mocking and manipulative, but it was keeping conflict down. Hermione hadn't had to break up any interhouse arguments since the new Friendliness started.
The drawback (though a significant part of her didn't see it as a drawback at all) was that Hermione had spent a large portion of the week in the company of Blaise and Malfoy, who, it seemed, really did enjoy Hermione's cruel responses to Blaise's pretend niceness (though of course he was more pretending to pretend). They'd joined her every day the past week for lunch (and Dean, having had run out of Puking Pastilles, was forced to join them a couple times after Arithmancy) and Blaise was personally escorting her to all her classes.
Hermione had consulted with Harry and Ron after the first day of Friendliness.
"They're trying to screw with us - try not to react," Hermione explained. "In case you couldn't figure it out."
"That's pretty much what we'd thought, yeah," Harry nodded.
"I don't get it. Why? It seems like a lot of work just to annoy us," Ron said.
"I don't know," Hermione hedged. She had come up with a theory, but seeing as it it involved Blaise…well, she couldn't very well share with Harry and Ron. Yet.
"What do we do about it? Counter-offensive?" Ron suggested, scratching his head. "Returning the favor might cause them to call it off. The teachers will think we've all gone bonkers, but it could work."
"Maybe, but is it worth it?" Harry asked. "I mean, it's just like you said - it's a lot of effort to annoy them."
"Ignoring it might be the best option," Hermione said, "I, for one, have no interest in pretending to be friendly with them."
Hermione was currently huddled in the back row of the Quidditch stands by herself trying to convince herself that she really did have no interest in being anything but annoyed but the Slytherins. Because - though she quelled the thought whenever it entered her brain - she was finding it harder and harder to ignore Blaise.
He, naturally, was purposefully making it harder. Blaise always seemed to find an excuse to touch her, usually in the form of sitting entirely too close and/or brushing against her whenever an opportunity presented itself. It wasn't over-the-top or even obvious - had it been anyone else she wouldn't have though anything of it. But it was Blaise, the boy she was working very hard to not like, and so to her it seemed over-the-top and far too obvious.
Hermione pulled her scarf tighter around her neck as she watched Harry fly past her. Gryffindor was already up by a significant margin over Hufflepuff, and so Hermione had slowly stopped paying attention, deciding to absently watch Harry in hopes that he would catch the Snitch and end the match quickly.
"Mind if I join you?"
Hermione jumped in surprise.
"Sorry," Blaise said, though he didn't look sorry at all. "I didn't mean to scare you."
"Okay," Hermione said mutely, turning her attention back to Harry's flying form.
"Okay? That's all I get?"
"Mhmm."
Blaise sat down next to her. "Can I talk to you?"
"If I'm not mistaken, you already are," Hermione said, trying her best to sound utterly indifferent.
"Why do you keep doing that?" he asked, sounding frustrated.
"Because you're an idiot and I refuse to encourage your idiotic behavior."
"Hermione, I already told you, I started this whole thing because it's what you wanted - "
"What I wanted?" Hermione snapped, finally looking at him. "What I wanted was for you to work on Malfoy, not for you to come up with some half-baked excuse to be around me in public!"
"That obvious, huh?" Blaise sighed, dropping his head. "I should have known you'd figure it out soon."
"You should also have known that I wouldn't like it at all."
"Oh, I did know that," he chuckled, looking back up at her. "Points for awareness?"
"Nice try," Hermione answered, though she softened her voice. "But since you were aware and went through with it anyway…"
"So that really doesn't mean anything to you, then?" He asked imploringly.
Hermione looked away from him again. Truthfully, it did mean something to her that he would do something so horrifically stupid just to be around her. "No," she finally whispered.
"Dammit, stop lying about this!"
Hermione jumped again, looking around frantically to make sure no one around was paying attention. Luckily, everyone was quite engrossed in the match, though Hermione had no idea what was happening.
"Blaise, please, not here-"
"Then when, Hermione? When are you finally going to deal with this?"
"There's nothing to deal with it," Hermione said coldly. "I've told you this."
"And I still don't think you really believe that," he persisted.
Hermione had no response. She felt dangerously close to tears, and she was afraid further denial would only cause them to spill over.
"You're really stuck on the idea that you can't be happy, aren't you?"
Again, Hermione found that she couldn't respond.
"You can, you know."
"Can what?" she managed to choke out.
"Allow yourself to be happy without sacrificing all your other responsibilities."
"How would you know?"
Blaise reached up and turned her face towards him, immediately causing Hermione's walls to start crumbling. "Because it's you."
The crowd erupted around them, signaling the end of the match. Hermione, however, missed it completely. For as everyone around them was jumping to their feet, Hermione Granger was leaning to kiss Blaise Zabini.
Hermione stared into the fire.
Stupid.
What had she been thinking, kissing Blaise like that with the entire school right there? Granted, no one was paying a lick of attention, but there was still a huge risk of being seen.
And - and this was this kicker - it was completely Hermione's fault. She was the one who had kissed him. She could pin it on him, of course. He had pursued her and deliberately tempted her. Oh, that didn't sound like denial at all!
Hermione leaned her head back on the couch. No, this was all on her. And just because she had also ended it didn't negate the fact that she had initiated it. After a few moments, Hermione had broken the kiss in horror and left without so much as goodbye. She had to bite back tears as she rushed down the stands full of cheering students (Malfoy: "Nice one, Potter! I always knew you could do it!") to the sanctuary of the library, where she had sat in solitude for a while, not allowing herself to join in the celebration in the Gryffindor common room as punishment. She'd have to explain that to Harry and Ron at some point.
Now she was sitting in the Head's quarters in front of the fire, staring at the ceiling and wondering what she was supposed to do now.
She didn't think she could go on denying. Hermione had thrown any right to denial out the window when she had leaned in to kiss Blaise. Sure, she could chalk it all up to a mistake again, but at this point it would be pointless to do so, seeing as they both knew better now.
But she couldn't be with Blaise. It was just….how could she? Sure, it wouldn't be as weird now as it would be a week ago - since the instigation of the Policy of Friendliness, people would probably just assume Hermione and Blaise had discovered common ground or something equally silly. But her friends probably wouldn't see it that way…
"Ah, Granger! I see you didn't join your House for the celebration?"
Hermione craned her neck to look over the top of the couch. Malfoy had just entered, and Hermione inwardly thanked Merlin that he was alone. "Oh, I went for a little bit."
"Um, no you didn't."
"How-"
"I was there, Granger," Malfoy drawled, rolling his eyes he settled into a chair. "And I can safely say that your bushy head was nowhere to be found."
"You've really committed to yourself, I see."
"Why, I don't know what you're talking about," Malfoy said with feigned innocence. "But that's beside the point."
"And what, may I ask, is the point?"
Th
"The point is that Potter's biggest fan declined to show up to his celebration. One more win and he's got the bloody Quidditch Cup again."
Hermione didn't like the shrewdness of his tone. "I was feeling ill."
"The crying kind of ill?"
Hermione gaped at him.
"For the love of Merlin, don't look at me like that. You ran right past me," Malfoy waved his hand at her. "What, are you a closet Hufflepuff?"
"It's no business of yours," Hermione said haughtily.
"Oh, I know. I just thought I should point out that you're a horribly unattractive crier. You really should contain yourself for the sake of the public."
"Piss off," Hermione snarled, leaning her head back on the couch.
"Gladly," Malfoy said, standing up. "Oh, and McGonagall wanted me to tell you that the next Hogsmeade visit has been cancelled and that they're throwing a ball to replace it. I think it's safe to say the administration of this school has officially fallen to shit."
"Wait, what?" Hermione sputtered, sitting ramrod straight. "A ball? When? That's absurd!"
"March 13th. And you haven't even heard the best part: we have to go together," Malfoy said with disgust.
"What?"
"You can thank my wanker of a friend Zabini for that. His whole 'let's pretend to be friends with the Gryffindors to screw with them' plan made the teachers decide that the sudden interhouse unity shit should be further encouraged. Hence, we're stuck with each other for this stupid thing."
Hermione groaned. "I'll kill him, I swear," she muttered.
"Not if I get there first. Trust me when I say that I got the worse end of the stick on this one."
Hermione glared at him.
"Yeah, whatever," he rolled his eyes before disappearing into his room.
Perfect. Hermione groaned again. A ball? Really?
The silver lining was the cancelled Hogsmeade trip (meant to be in a week, which meant the ball was in about three). Sure, the students would be disappointed (until they heard about the ball), but it meant the Death Eater attack could only happen on one day - May 15th.
The more urgent matter, though, was this ruddy ball. That she had to go to with Malfoy. That could result in some very uncomfortable situations.
Hermione rubbed her eyes. It was too much.
As if on cue, there was a knock on the door.
Please don't be him, please don't be him, Hermione inwardly chanted to herself as she walked towards the portrait hole.
"We need to talk."
Hermione breathed out a sigh relief. "Sure, Harry. Come on in."
Harry stepped through the portrait hole, awkwardly rubbing at his neck.
"Good catch today. Sorry I didn't come by for the party, I had Head's stuff," Hermione said, wasting no time in launching into excuse mode. "You'll never believe it: they've cancelled the upcoming Hogsmeade visit in favor of a ball."
Harry frowned. "I would have rather they cancel it and not try to make up for it if a bloody ball was the best they could come up with."
"And I have to attend with Malfoy."
"Mother of Merlin…"
Hermione shook her head. "It's horrible."
Harry nodded his agreement. "Er, I didn't really come to ask why you didn't come to Gryffindor tower," he said uncertainly, clearing his throat. "Um, Hermione, is there something going on with you and Blaise Zabini?"
"Excuse me?" Hermione hedged, feeling as if a brick had settled into her stomach. "Why would you ask something so ridiculous?"
"Well, it's just that…I saw you kissing him after the Quidditch match."
"Oh…"
A/N: Dun dun dun...
Yeah, I know. A ball is totally cliche. But I needed something to replace the Hogsmeade visit, and I will allow myself a few cliches here and there. As well as some cheesy romantic shit.
Reviews are welcome!