A/N: Chapter Six. The Quidditch game! Oh, and I'm really sorry I'm being bad at updating this. I have three other HP stories going on right now. One's Ginny/Draco, and the other two are Hermione/Draco, although one of them has some Harry/Hermione in it, plus it's quite a bit angsty-like.
I reposted the last chapter (twice), so you can go back and read it if you want. But you don't have to. I just changed it a little. Draco and Hermione are not sleeping together. Yet.
Btw, if you haven't read "Crimson Stains," by Crystal, you should. It's sad, yeah, but so what? It's wonderfully written, and makes you feel all happy at the end.
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Harry/Pansy, Hermione/Draco, Ron/Padma, and Ginny/Neville
Disclaimer: A yellow road...two paths...the truth...or the lies.
I guess I'll go with the truth.
I don't own shit. (there's your PG-13 rating)
**************
Pansy walked out to the Quidditch field, her heart in her stomach. She clutched the flask of Polyjuice Potion tightly in her pocket.
"Hey, Hermione!" Virginia Weasley called to her. Well, she actually didn't realize it until the girl had called Hermione's name multiple times, but still. What did they call her? It wasn't Virginia… it was something shorter. She frowned. Ginny! That was it.
She forced a smile and walked over to the group making its way to the field holding Gryffindor banners. Seamus Finnigan grinned cheekily at her, holding one of them. Neville and Ron were carrying another, longer and larger one, while the girls—Ginny, Parvati, and Lavender—had some odds and ends that Pansy hadn't identified yet.
"Hi!" Pansy said. It came out sounding a little squeaky.
Ginny raised a brow at her before the expression changed to one of understanding. She stepped closer and said, quietly, "You're worried about Draco, aren't you?" At Pansy's incredulous look, Ginny continued. "Don't worry about it. He'll be fine." She gave her a small smirk. "I'm sure Harry won't beat him up too bad."
Pansy had to laugh at that, and Ginny moved back to the middle of the group looking satisfied. Pansy smiled the rest of the way to the stands, where they sat down near the front. She was happy, she freely admitted it. She really didn't have any friends in Slytherin. Blaise was there when she needed someone to unload on, but she really only unloaded her school problems.
No one knew about her love for Harry.
Although… she tilted her head. Gran—Hermione, she corrected herself, knew. She wondered if that meant they were friends. She sighed. She'd have to ask her later. Meanwhile, she smiled, she had a game to watch.
***
Harry took a deep breath, hearing the whistle blow, and head above the game, intending to watch the play while keeping an eye out for the Snitch. He saw Draco tail him with a smirk on his face. Harry caught his eye and cocked a brow, questioning. Draco's smirk widened and he shook his head.
As Harry circled the field, his thoughts plagued him mercilessly. He was relatively sure he was getting over Hermione, but he still felt a pang whenever he saw her with Draco. And then there was, of course, the girl. The one night stand. He sighed to himself. At least he would find out at the Graduation Ball. Well, so long as she was telling him the truth. He wondered if there could be a future between them, then laughed at himself. Damn, but he was getting sentimental.
Pansy suddenly came to mind. He wondered when she had changed. It had to have been after fourth year. He really couldn't remember anything about her after that. Well, until they were paired together for that project in Transfiguration. But between fourth year and the project, he didn't remember her at all. She stopped tagging Malfoy, and that had apparently pulled her out of the spotlight. He sighed. The chemistry—he'd heard it called that—between them hadn't lessened a whit since they'd begun working on the project.
Suddenly Harry saw a flash of gold to the left, and he shot towards it, his Firebolt speeding past Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. The two had joined the Slytherin Quidditch team as beaters when the others had graduated. He heard Malfoy dash after him. It was almost within his reach—he almost had it—
A resounding cheer went up from the Gryffindors.
Harry had caught the Snitch.
***
Hermione's breath caught in her throat when Harry caught the Snitch. She sighed. Poor Draco. She stood up to cheer for Harry, then quickly sat back down when she saw the others. That's right, she mentally berated herself, you're supposed to be a Slytherin, stupid! She chuckled to herself.
Glancing around, she saw Blaise Zabini giving her a strange look. She quickly looked back onto the field. The teams had landed, and Draco was shaking Harry's hand. Looking over at the Gryffindors, she saw herself. Well, she supposed it was Pansy. It was just really strange, seeing yourself… Ah, well. Pansy was cheering excitedly, looking ecstatic. Hermione smiled, standing with the rest of the Slytherins, leaving the stands.
She saw Draco and ran towards him. He looked confused when she threw her arms around his neck, and she whispered, laughing, into his ear, "Draco, remember? The Polyjuice Potion."
Draco laughed and hugged her back, swinging her around in his arms. Hermione saw a few of the Slytherins grinning at each other, and she could have sworn she heard one of them say, boasting, "You owe me twenty galleons." Hermione frowned. She hadn't thought about that possibility.
"Hey, Malfoy!" One of the Slytherins smirked at him. "Finally get rid of the Mudblood bitch?"
Hermione closed her eyes, feeling Draco's arms tighten around her. She knew what was coming, and felt a very small amount of pity for the person who had spoken.
Draco glared at the sixth year. "Why don't you shut your trap? And if you ever call Hermione a Mudblood or a bitch, ever again, I will make you regret the day you were born."
The boy stepped back, thoroughly scared. "S-sorry." He ran.
Hermione let go of Draco and smiled at him, letting him know she was grateful for his rebuttal.
He smiled back at her. "Why don't we go to our—my," he corrected himself, glancing at the other Slytherins, "common room?"
She nodded and began to follow him. They were halfway there when an arm came out of nowhere and pulled her into an empty classroom. A hand went over her mouth, and she heard a feminine voice say, quietly, "So, Pansy. How are you?" She let Hermione go, but not before pushing the Gryffindor further into the room. "Or are you really Pansy? I don't think you are—but I don't know who you are, really. Why don't you tell me?" She paused. Hermione could now see that the girl was, in fact, Blaise Zabini. "Or, I could just wait for the Potion to wear off. And apparently," she smiled, seemingly devoid of emotion, "I won't have to wait that long."
Hermione could feel herself growing. Pansy was a good five inches shorter than she was. She closed her eyes and sighed. How would she get out of this one?
***
Blaise Zabini tilted her head, eyeing what looked like Pansy. She knew it wasn't, of course. All of her actions had said otherwise. It wasn't surprising that no one else had noticed. Slytherins were a stupid lot, she had to admit. Well, Draco and Pansy weren't that bad, actually, but they were all surrounded by idiots.
Blaise had a pretty good idea of who "Pansy" really was. Hermione Granger was the only person that made sense. Obviously, it was not a Slytherin, since she'd almost cheered for Potter. But the scene with Draco… Well, she knew Draco well enough that she knew he would not drop Hermione. Yes, Blaise thought of her as Hermione. She had ever since the Gryffindor's relationship with Draco had become widely known. Draco loved Hermione. Blaise knew that no one believed a Malfoy to be capable of love, but even if they weren't, Hermione had changed it. Somehow, someway.
Blaise grinned inwardly. And now she was quaking in her shoes. She could tell. She wondered what the girl would do when the Potion wore off completely. There were many things she could do… She could scream and run, she could sit quietly and talk, she could sit and yell. She could stand and yell. But she probably would do the second.
And she was right. As soon as the last remnants of blonde had faded from Hermione's hair, she sat down in a vacant desk and gestured for Blaise to do the same. The Slytherin did so, if only because she needed to give her legs a rest.
Hermione cleared her throat. "You're obviously wondering why I'm here…"
"And where Pansy is," Blaise added, smiling.
Hermione nodded. "Yes, well, you see… I realized a while back that…" she paused. "I don't know if I should tell you."
Blaise rolled her eyes. "Look, I'm not going to tell anyone."
Hermione eyed her warily, but continued. "I realized that Pansy likes Harry. And actually, not just likes, but loves." Blaise's eyebrows went up. "Yes, I believe that Pansy loves Harry. I don't know why, and Draco finds it as incredulous as I do, but we both agree it's there. Pansy and I switched places for the game. It was mostly for her, since I would have cheered both Draco and Harry without a second thought. I mean, no one would have questioned it. Draco's my boyfriend and Harry's one of my two best friends. But Pansy… well, she had no reason to cheer Harry. And I know she wanted to. So I made the potion, and offered her the option of using it at the game. She agreed. And here we are."
Blaise grinned. "And here we are." She frowned in thought for a moment, before saying, "Why did you help her?"
Hermione sighed. "That's a difficult question, really. It's partially because Draco's certain that Harry's in love with me. I want him to get over me, and I think that it would be best if someone replaced me. It would be quicker that way. And also because, well, Pansy's really a nice girl. Plus she's smart. No one notices though. It was just like no one noticed me until I started dating Draco. Before that, I was just the know-it-all, Harry Potter's best friend. And even now, I'm not known for myself. It's annoying." She gave a frustrated sigh. "But I'm getting off-topic. I think that Pansy deserves Harry. And I think that if he gets his head out of his arse long enough, Harry will notice her. I want to help him do that."
Blaise tilted her head thoughtfully. "Do you think I might be able to help you do that?"
Hermione stared at her, mouth agape in shock.
"What?" the Slytherin grinned.
"It's just…well, I didn't really think anyone would want to help."
Blaise nodded, looking thoughtful. "I can see why you might think that. But I agree with you. Pansy's smart, and nice, and she really does deserve Potter. What do you say we work on it together? I'm sure that with the two of us, they won't be single for long."
Hermione grinned, and stuck out her hand. "It's a deal."
***************
A/N: Yay! What do you all think? I loved that. It was so much fun writing Blaise. I honestly don't know whether Blaise is a boy or a girl, but in this, she's a girl.
FTCWriter: Hey, don't berate yourself. I was trying to make it ambiguous. And I never mentioned whether Parvati was with anyone. Just be happy you didn't think it was Ginny or Padma or something… And I'm glad you like the pairings. I think it really has to do with the author's view of the characters. I could make you hate these pairings if I wanted to, believe me. Lol. But I don't want you to hate them, so I won't. Have fun reading.
dracos gurl: Don't worry—I will definitely keep writing. I am having a lot of fun writing this fic, and there is no way that I am going to abandon it anytime soon.
Jan McNeville: Glad you think so!!
Calypzo: Basically they just drink the Potion after putting a piece of the other's hair in it—which makes them look like each other—and take each other's place. Hermione is Pansy and Pansy is Hermione.
PassionPolice237: Ah, yes. Your review. That was what prompted me to rewrite Chapter 5. Don't feel bad about it. I think I've said that before. I've revised it some, so you can reread it if you haven't already. I've made Hermione more aloof about the whole thing, if you didn't catch that. She mostly did the switching places thing for Pansy, since Pansy, as she said, would have looked weird cheering Harry, since she really had no reason to. Hope you like it.