Yipee! Chapter two! ^.^ Hope you enjoy. O_O;; I need help with tags....can anyone help? ALSO: I need a beta reader O_O;;. Any volunteers? ^.^ *pfft!* :P ~Charity~

-Chapter 2-
-Ballrooms and Arguements-


"Ladies, Gentlemen, and Ghosts, welcome to the Yule Ball! I would like to introduce our ball openers: Harry Potter of Gryffindor and Cho Chang of Ravenclaw; Ronald Weasley and Parvati Patil, both of Gryffindor; Lisa Turpin of Ravenclaw and Blaise Zabini of Slytherin; and Hermione Granger of Gryffindor and Draco Malfoy of Slytherin." Professor Dumbledore announced once everyone was in the Great Hall and settled.

"Traitors! Get off the stage!" Pansy Parkinson's and Lavendar Brown's voices rang out in the silence.

"Now, now, hush, Misses Parkinson and Brown." Professor McGonagall berated them.

"And now, I introduce our band for the night. The Hunters!" said Professor Dumbledore. The Hunters basically were the wizarding world's equivalent of the Backstreet Boys or *NSYNC. They started a slow ballad, and Hermione and Draco got into dancing position: Hermione's arms around Draco's neck and Draco's hands on the small of Hermione's back. Hermione caught Ron's eyes. He glared at her and turned his back. Hot tears stung her eyes.

"What's wrong, love?" Draco said, a concerned look filling his eyes.

"It's nothing, Draco." She blinked back the tears and gave him a fake smile.

"Okay....." He knew the smile was fake, but he didn't want to push her. He was afraid it had something to do with Weasley. "Whatever you say, love."

The first dance was over. Hermione went to the refreshment table, where Ron and Parvati were standing, not looking at her. She tried to make feeble conversation. "Hi, Ron."

"Go away, traitor-bitch! We don't need your sort over here, you'll probably poison us all!" Parvati hissed, glaring at her. Hermione hesitated.

"You heard her, Hermione. Go away." Ron said, a pained look filling his eyes, as if he didn't want to say that.

"You know you don't hate me, Ron. I can tell by the way your eyes look." Tears leaked out of Hermione's eyes and trickled down her cheeks, but it didn't mess her makeup up. That was the least of her worries at the moment, though. "Your eyes tell me everything, Ron."

"He hates you, bitch! Go away! You're using up all our traitor-less air! Get out of my sight! NOW!" Parvati shrieked, slapping Hermione across the face.

"So help me God, if you lay one more finger on her, Patil, you'll wish you never knew who 'Draco Malfoy' was." Draco had walked up as Parvati was slapping Hermione.

"Ooooh, I'm so scared! Big-bad Malfoy's threatening me! Oh, Mommy, save me!" Parvati mocked, smirking.

Hermione, finally over the shock of being slapped, raised her own hand. "Stupefy!" She exclaimed, and a jet of light left her hand. It hit Parvati, and Parvati slumped to the floor, stunned. Hermione looked at her hand as if it had betrayed her. "D-D-Draco.......what's wrong with me?" She
remembered saying before she fell to the floor in a dead faint.

She woke up a few seconds later, having been woken up by Professor McGonagall's wand. "What happened?" She said softly, rubbing her head.

"As Mr. Malfoy tells it, Miss Patil slapped you, and then you stunned her without your wand and fainted. Interesting. I'll have to talk to Professor Dumbledore about your...extraordinary powers, Miss Granger. As for stunning Miss Patil, you'll have a detention as well as 10 points from Gryffindor, Ms. Granger." Professor McGonagall said. She produced a bit of chocolate from her robes. "Eat this."

Hermione did as told, and McGonagall disappeared. She looked at Parvati, who was looking daggers at her. If looks could kill, Hermione would be six feet under with worms crawling around her. But they can't, so she's still alive and enchanting things, cursing people, you know, the works. ( The narrator is very hyper, hehe.)

"Get out of my sight, Hermione. Just....go." said Ron, the pained look still present in his mocha-coloured eyes.

"Is that how it's going to be, Ron? You hate me just because of who I date? And you choose that.....that....that prat Parvati before me? Dammit, Ron, we used to be best f---"

"Don't say it, Hermione." Ron moaned softly.

"--riends, Ron. And now you hate me." Tears splashed down her cheeks and down the front of her robes. "I see how it is." And with that, she walked away, dignity not lost.

"Hermione...." said Ron, with a look of.....longing in his gaze? Could it be that he didn't hate her, yet loved her? We'll find out. Soon.

A half-hour later, Dumbledore stepped up to the stage and called attention. "Excuse me, all. This year, we professors decided to do something new. We have decided to have a Yule Court. There will be a Queen, King, princes, and princesses. We all agreed on that Peeves would be the Court Jester. To keep everyone from voting for one person, the professors picked the Court. And the Ice Queen is...." Dumbledore flicked his wand and letters flew out, forming a name. "Hermione Granger!"

Hermione about fainted. She stumbled up to Dumbledore and McGonagall, who were standing there with a tiara.

"Real diamonds, Miss Granger." Professor McGonagall said softly, smiling at her.

"Wow...." She bent her knees slightly so the Professor could crown her.

"The Ice King is...." Dumbledore flicked his wand and again, letters flew out, forming another name underneath Hermione's. "Ronald Weasley!"

Ron, who stood in dark green dress robes near the stage, gaped up at Dumbledore as though he hand misheard him. He staggered up on stage and walked to McGonagall, who whispered, "Real diamonds, Mr. Weasley," before crowning him.

"Now, I know you two didn't come to the ball together, but the Queen and King have to share a dance." Professor McGonagall said. The music began again, and Ron looked at Hermione, blushing.

"You look nice tonight, Hermione." Ron tried to make conversation.

"Thanks.....um....you do, too." Hermione looked up at him, and nearly broke down into tears again. "Listen.....I know I made you angry, with seeing Viktor and now Draco, but Ron---"

"Hermione, I forgive you....but....I just can't be your friend while you're dating Malfoy. I'm sorry." He looked extremely despondent, aas if he would break into tears, too, but he kept his composure in his face, anyway.

"So we'll be less than friends until I break up with Draco?" She asked, and he nodded. She hung her head slightly. "I understand."

And their dance ended. The princes of the Ice Court were: Draco, Harry, and Blaise, and the princesses were: Lisa, Parvati, and Cho. Who didn't guess? (::Listens for the 'ME!'s and the 'I didn't, Charity!'s:: Hehehehe.....) Alright, then.

Ron stopped Hermione at the end of the dance, after Draco and Parvati had left, along with all of the other students. "'Mione, look at me." He used Hermione's nickname, which made her start crying. "Shh..." He tried to console her.

She looked up at him, feeling melancholy. "Y-y-yes, Ron?" She stammered.

"I just wanted to tell you that you're the most......beautiful girl I've ever seen, and that......well, I love you with all of my heart." And with that, Ron kissed her swiftly on the lips. "Goodnight, 'Mione." He stroked her cheek with one finger and fled.

Now, see, this kiss woke up feelings in Hermione that she hadn't felt since before she had seen Viktor. She stood there, quite perplexed. She realized that.........she didn't love Draco. But....how would she end their relationship?

She didn't need to. She took a wrong turn into an unused classroom, and found Draco and Cho snogging. She burst into tears and ran away from the pain.

"Hermione! Wait! It's not what you think!" Draco shouted after her.

She wheeled around, wand hand pointing at Draco. How could her boyfriend betray her---with her best friend's girlfriend?! "I know you both snogged each other, Draco. Now I realize......I see right through you.......you are nothing but Slytherin scum." She spat the words 'Slytherin scum' at him. "And this is the last time I'll be fooled. So sod off, you stupid wanker." She glared at him and felt power and adrenaline rushing through her. "Let's see how you like having large teeth. Densaugeo!" She exclaimed, and a jet of green light flew at him and hit his mouth. His teeth enlarged. "Good riddance, Draco Malfoy."


Hehehehehehehehehehehehe---*cough, cough, hack, cough, hack, hack, cough* u_u;; Remind me not to do that again. And...the perfect song for this is....."See Right Through You" By NSYNC.

Look into my eyes
Tell me what you see
You see a girl who thought you loved me
You played me like a fool but I
See right through you
I look into your eyes
Tell you what I see
I see a man who maybe lonely
Thought you had me fooled but I
See right through you.

-Changed the lyrics a bit to fit the story- Hehehehe. Yeah, I know it's over there. I don't really care. Notepad is messed up ._.;!

A special thanks goes out to:
Desiree: Thanks for reviewing my story. I read your fic, Fifth Year at Hogwarts: The Heir, and it was simply superb (yeah, you other people go read it!). ^.^ You'll go on my author alert, too. -goes off mumbling- First reviewer this time is actually not a flamer....Cool, man......