I felt nervous as the Hogsmead trip was coming up. It was still early, but I was making my way towards the quidditch pitch to fly some laps. I had trouble sleeping. I ran into a tired-looking Granger, who was in an avid fight with Weasley. Weasley immediately trained his wand on me. Honestly, I thought, there was no way I would look like an idiot on my first date with Pansy. I would not get in a fight, I told myself and tried to walk past them, but Weasley grabbed my arm. "Apologise to Hermoine," he said.

I felt annoyed. "Well, if anyone here has to apologise it is not me," I sneer. "As far as I can tell by your extremely loud and frequent fighting from the past days, as if the whole castle has to know that the golden trio is falling apart-"

Weasley looked angrily at me. "We are not fighting."

I give them a disbelieving look. "Really? You've been screaming murder at each other and Granger's pitiful whines have filled the library the past days. Honestly, some try to study there." Granger flushes and looks uncomfortable.

"I-" Weasley sounds stunned. "Surely, I didn't make Hermione cry that often.."

Granger is strangely silent.

"Surely it occurred to you that your best friend might have feelings like other people, even your brain should be able to comprehend such a concept." I sneer. Pathetic. Honestly, why would you ever want to be friends with that red-headed menace?

"She killed my rat," Weasley then accused her.

Why does he drag me into their fight, I think exhausted, at least it distracts me from feeling nervous. Just don't get into a fight. "Honestly, even Granger would not sink as low as to kill someones pet.." I roll my eyes.

Weasley's eyes narrow. "No, her cat killed my rat."

"Well," I say, "Her cat then has a proper hunting instinct." Weasley looks ready to get back in a fight with Granger. "Pathetic," I sneer, "You're fighting about that.. I thought you were something akin to friends."

Granger looks hurt at Weasley and then storms towards the grounds. I look awkwardly at Weasley then walk out the door towards the grounds. "Seriously, You are going after Granger now? What would your father say!" Weasley screams after me. To be honest I had no such plan as to go after Granger, but his words tempted me. I only had wanted to take a fly, what had I gotten myself into. I almost walked into her again. "Y-you'd go after me?" She asks with a trembling lower lip.

"My father," I say with a slight sneer. "Always taught me to treat women with respect."

It is silent for a while.

"I am sorry your friend is being a major dunderhead," I say awkwardly.

Granger chuckles softly.

I am not quite sure what I am supposed to do now. "If you want you can fly on my broom. It always helps me cheer up and clear my mind," I blurt out.

Granger looks surprised. "I'm not fond of flying. But thanks."

It is silent for a moment. "I am sorry for hitting you," Granger then blurted out. "Hagrid told me you even tried to help his case, I just didn't expect.." Ashamed she looks at the ground.

I feel unable to get mad at the crying girl in front of me. "It's okay.."

"Did you find anything to help Hagrid with his case?" She looks at me hopefully.

I meet her eyes. "You shouldn't waste your time. If MacMillan wants Buckbeak beheaded he'll get his wish. Dumbledore will stand up for Hagrid. He'll be fine."

She looks hurt. "Still, there must be something we can do."

"Support Hagrid," I say. "Otherwise you'll be taking care of flubberworms for the rest of the year."

Granger snorts. "That's an awful joke. Poor Hagrid."

I sigh. "Go to Hogsmead with Longbottom. At least he won't make you cry."

Granger gasps. I then mount my broom and start flying. It feels great. It distracts me from everything and no one interrupts me from the gentle bliss of doing something I really like.

"Draco," Pansy's voice then fills the air. "I knew I'd be able to find you in the air. Ready for Hogsmead?"

I nod excitedly. The last few days have started to become more cold. It would not be long before snow would fall. "So where do we go off to first?"

"We'll go to Madame Puddifoots, of course," Pansy drawls while fluttering her eyes. I look towards the pink-looking tea shop and feel immediately horrified. Pansy starts laughing loudly. "If you want we can go to Honeydukes, I know you're dying to go.."

I feel relieved she was not serious about getting tea there. "Sure, you don't want some adventure or romance like in your novels?"

Pansy snorts. "I'm not looking at your sour face in madame Puddifoots. We could go to the haunted shack, though. If you hold me close?"

I blush. "We could also get some butterbeers at the three broomsticks," I mutter.

Pansy grabs my hand decidedly. "Why don't we just take a walk first and then warm ourselves with some butterbeers? After that we can always visit Honeydukes and if you dare the shrieking shack.."

We did just as Pansy suggested. I had a great time. I was happy I was wearing a warm winter cloak as there was a cold wind. We passed Granger who seemed to have asked Longbottom as her company. Later we passed Weasley who seemed to be sulking. I snorted. Served him right for trying to pick a fight with me.

Pansy and I talked lots. About classes and about when we were younger. We laughed about how snooty we used to be. We talked about all the balls we had attended together. "I do enjoy dancing with you, Draco," Pansy then says. "It is a shame Hogwarts does not hold any dances."

"We could go to the wizards wireless network station, who knows, maybe there's a cool musician playing. Surely we could dance there. People sometimes listen in there," I say rushed.

Pansy smiles largely. "That would be cool.."

When we came there Celestine Warbeck appeared to be there singing about making a large cauldron of love. I look disappointedly at Pansy. "Well, we could dance closely," she suggests with a shrug. We dance for a short amount of time, but we both really don't care much for her music, so we head to the shrieking shack, were Pansy held closely to me as if she were genuinely scared. "You're not scared," I accuse her lightly, but I enjoy how close we are.

She sticks out her tongue and takes a few steps away from me. "Honestly, this place just looks dirty and old. Can we leave?"

I snort. I take her hand and we run straight from the shrieking shack to the three broomsticks. We share a few tentative kisses and then enter the pub. We both order a butter beer and are quickly joined by Vin, Greg, Blaise, Theodore, Daphne and Millicent. We have lots of fun, then we leave the group after paying for our drinks and go to Honeydukes.

That night was a perfect ending of a perfect day, I thought happily, as we were all digging into an extraordinary Halloween feast.

Then later all students were brought to the great hall. Apparently Sirius Black was in the castle and had slashed the Gryffindor portrait. I fell asleep holding Pansy's hand, while pondering if Lupin let Black in.