A/N: I apologize so much for the extremely long wait! I lost inspiration … or something like that. I don't know exactly, but I couldn't write. Well, it might also have had something to do with all the other stuff in my life interfering, but that stuff certainly did not help! So, without further ado, I give you Chapter Seven of Just One Night!

Rating: PG-13

Pairings: Harry/Pansy, Hermione/Draco, Ron/Padma, Ginny/Neville, and Blaise/?

Disclaimer: I don't own squat.

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Hermione paced her room, frowning. There was almost nothing they could do, it seemed. She and Blaise had sat for hours in the library, trying to come up with something that would get Harry and Pansy together, but they had come up with nothing. She let out a frustrated sigh.

"'Mione, love, what's the matter?" Draco asked, knocking on the door. "You've been pacing for the last half hour, and as much as I love you, it's getting very annoying."

Hermione chuckled, walking over to the door. She opened it and crossed her arms, leaning against the frame. "I don't know what to do about Harry and Pansy."

Draco sighed and leaned forward, kissing her lightly. He pulled away and rested his forehead against hers. "You've got to give it a rest. What about your schoolwork?"

Hermione waved a hand. "I have it all done for the next two weeks."

"See?" Draco said, raising his eyebrows. "Normally you'd have it done for the next month."

Hermione laughed and pushed him away. "Stop it!" she said, grinning. "I don't need you making fun of me," she said primly. However, the effect was ruined by the grin she was fighting to keep off her face.

"'Mione, are you ready? It's time for dinner."

"Oh!" She glanced at her clock. "Yeah, let's go," she smiled at him.

Draco grinned in return and offered her his arm in a courtly fashion, which she took with a small smile. They walked out of the common room, heading to the Great Hall in good spirits.

***

Ron glared at Draco as he escorted Hermione to the Gryffindor table. If it wasn't for Draco, Harry and Hermione would be together. Ron knew that he had to figure out a way to get them apart. He glanced at Hermione and found that she was staring at him with narrowed eyes. He quickly looked down at his food and started eating.

Dinner was quiet, as both Harry and Hermione seemed to have a lot on their minds. Ron made his way to the library after both his friends mumbled goodbyes. He needed to come up with a plan.

Of course, it might have worked if he hadn't been yanked into an alcove halfway to the library. He looked at his captor and gaped. "Hermione?" he asked, shocked.

She looked at him with narrowed eyes, her hand tightening on his robes. "I know you don't' like Draco, Ron, but I don't care. I love him, and he loves me. I know that Harry loves me, but I don't love him like that. I love both you and Harry like brothers, and that will never change. Maybe Draco and I won't get married and have our happily ever after, but we're happy right now, and if you try to change that, it will make me miserable," she glared at him, drawing out the last word.

"Besides," she continued, and Ron was shocked to see a smile on her face, "I know for a fact that someone else loves Harry."

Ron raised a brow. "Who doesn't?" he asked rhetorically.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Someone loves him, and I think that she deserves him. So I'm trying to get them together."

"Since when do you like to play matchmaker?"

"Since my best friend is in love with me!" she snapped. Calming herself, she continued. "And I don't want him to be miserable, which is what he seems to be."

"Who is it?" Ron asked slowly.

"Pansy Parkinson."

"That—"

"Ronald Weasley!"

Ron looked away, a small smile creeping its way onto his face. "Okay, okay." He frowned. "Wait, is that why you were so quick to defend her?"

"Mm-hmm," Hermione smiled. "And we switched places at the last Quidditch match."

"What?"

"Pansy and I switched places. I know that she wanted to cheer for Harry, but she couldn't very well do that if she was in Slytherin, now could she? And I didn't mind switching with her because I don't mind cheering for Draco."

Ron rolled his eyes.

Hermione sighed, letting go of his robes. "Okay, so, my point is that I need your help." She started pacing. "Blaise and I have been trying to figure out something to do, but—"

"Wait. Blaise Zabini? She's a Slytherin."

Hermione glared at Ron. "Draco's a Slytherin, too, you prat."

Ron winced. "Okay, okay, no need for name-calling."

"You called Pansy a—"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, I take it back."

Hermione smiled. "Thank you. Now, as I was saying…"

***

Harry leaned back against his chair, waiting until he needed to add the next ingredient to his potion. Snape was watching everyone like a hawk, and he seemed particularly edgy today. Not even the Slytherins were daring to put a toe out of line.

They were working on the potions individually, as they weren't all that difficult. He was seated next to Ron, who was seated next to Hermione, who was seated next to Draco… And then the line ended.

Pansy was directly behind him. It was scary the way he could tell without even looking. Glancing over his shoulder when Snape's back was turned, Harry was shocked to find her staring directly at him. She met his gaze for a few seconds before turning back to her potion with a small smile…

Leaving Harry wondering why he had never before noticed the intense blue of her eyes.

***

The 'eye experience,' as he was now referring to it, had made Harry very jumpy. This was why, when Hermione snuck up on him in the library, he jumped at least five feet. Well, relatively speaking.

Hermione set her hands down on his shoulders. "What's the matter with you?" she demanded.

Calming his racing heart, Harry answered tightly, "Nothing. I've just got a lot on my mind, is all."

Hermione raised her brows but didn't pursue it, choosing instead to sit down next to him. "So, what are you working on?"

"That extra Potions essay Snape assigned me," Harry scowled, pulling the parchment toward him.

"The one you got because you added the lacewings before the frog legs and your potion almost self-combusted?" Hermione asked with a raised brow; it was obvious she was trying to keep a grin off her face.

Harry flushed, glowering at her.

"So," she said, pulling his essay back and starting to read it, "what distracted you?"

Harry didn't say anything for a minute; he just sat and stared at his best friend. It was strange—the familiar zing he usually felt in her presence…wasn't there. He supposed it hadn't been for a while, but this was the first time in a long time that he'd actually sat down and analyzed his feelings for her.

When had it changed? he wondered philosophically. It must have been at the Halloween Ball. When he'd slept with … her. It all came back to her, didn't it?

What did that mean though? Was he in love with her?

No, Harry decided, that couldn't be it. It really wouldn't make sense, in the first place. The love would have to be based on lust, making it a very basic form of love. Nothing like what he'd felt for Hermione.

Harry wondered, not for the first time, what would have happened if he and Hermione had actually gotten together. Would it have lasted? If all he had to do was sleep with another girl to forget about her, had his love really been that strong?

No… But it wasn't just that, now was it? Harry's brain asked him. He sighed inwardly. No, it wasn't. As much as he hated to admit it, he had feelings for Pansy. And that was strange in itself. He supposed that right now it wasn't much more than the physical attraction and a basic crush… But if he was right, then there was the potential for more. Oh, yes, much more…

***

"I now call this meeting of Operation: Get Harry and Pansy Together to order!" Hermione said, banging her gavel on the desk in an old, unused classroom.

"Honestly," Ron whispered to Draco, to whom he had become much more pleasantly disposed since Hermione had had her little talk with him, "What idiot gave her a gavel?"

"I don't know!" Draco whispered back. "I say we steal it before the next meeting."

Blaise, who was seated next to Draco, snorted. "I want to know who made up that name," she said under her breath. The two boys heard, however, and snorted with laughter.

Hermione, who had obviously heard at least some of their comments, glared at them. "Pay attention, you three! We have to figure out what to do!"

"What are we doing here anyways?" Ron asked, slightly confused.

Hermione threw up her hands and looked to the ceiling as if looking for some divine intervention. "We're trying to figure out how to get Harry and Pansy together, that's what!"

"You know," Blaise started, "it really shouldn't be that hard. Pansy's already fallen for him, and if you ask me, Potter's not that far behind."

Draco raised a brow at his housemate. "And just what makes you say that?"

Blaise rolled her eyes. "Uh, maybe it's the fact that he just looks at her in Potions, and then he puts the lacewings in before the frogs' legs? Honestly, I've never seen Snape so angry! It's a good thing Longbottom's cleaned up his act, or we'd all be serving multiple detentions."

Hermion looked at Blaise, frowning. "That's why, then? I asked him about it earlier today, but he started thinking, and before I knew it he was off in Dragonland or some such place. I couldn't snap him out of it."

Blaise laughed. All of them were rather surprised; they'd never heard the Slytherin really laugh before. When she stopped, she looked at their surprised faces. "What?" she asked curiously.

Ron smirked. "It isn't every day you hear a Slytherin laugh like that."

Blaise rolled her eyes again, choosing not to comment.

"Okay, then," Hermione said, smiling. "I feel much better about this now. But we still have to figure out at least one way to get them closer."

"How about detention?" Ron suggested.

"No…"

"Why not?" Ron demanded.

"Because, you prat, how are we supposed to get them both into detention with the same teacher without getting the rest of us in it?"

Ron let out a defeated sigh and slumped in his seat, put out.

"Are you sure we can even do anything before the holidays, 'Mione? We've only got one week left before the Christmas ones start, and they go on for a little over a month," Draco pointed out to his girlfriend.

Hermione narrowed her eyes and looked closely at each one of them in turn. "Am I the only one here that wants this to happen?"

Ron and Draco refused to answer, although Blaise grinned and said smartly, "Of course not, Granger."

"Hermione," she corrected the Slytherin. "I call you Blaise, don't I?"

"Hey," Ron said, glancing at Blaise, "I thought Blaise was a guy's name; how'd you get stuck with it?"

Blaise sighed, as though it was a question she was asked repeatedly—which it probably was. "It is, but my parents had said that they would name their first-born child Blaise. I guess they thought I'd be a boy."

"Oh."

"Honestly, Ron," Hermione chastised him, "that was a rude thing to ask."

"Don't worry about it, Hermione," Blaise said, shrugging it off.

Hermione sighed, but didn't pursue it. "So, what are we all doing for the holidays? I'm not going home, so I'll be here."

"Uh, actually, 'Mione," Ron said, sitting up straight again, "Mum owled me yesterday. She wants you and Harry to come to the Burrow for the holidays."

"Oh," Hermione said, glancing at Draco.

"I'm staying," Draco said quietly, "I'd rather not go home right now." His father was dead, murdered by Voldemort, after he had failed at a task assigned to him. His mother, Narcissa, was insane, and now occupied a ward at St. Mungo's. No one was completely certain why, although Draco had a pretty good idea. His father had been a very cruel man, to say the least.

"I'm staying as well," Blaise said after a few moments of silence. At their questioning looks, Blaise continued quietly, "My parents are dead. The mansion only has a butler and a few house elves; it's rather cold and quiet there."

Hermione was immediately filled with pity for the poor girl. She'd probably never had a good Christmas anyways, if the other Slytherins were any indication. She made a mental note to owl Mrs. Weasley. She needed to ask the kind woman something.

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A/N: Once again, I am so sorry it took forever to update!!

PassionPolice237: Yes, I know it still doesn't make complete sense, but I still might change it; we'll see. And in response to your e-mail, Blaise's sex has never been stated in the books, although I've heard that Blaise is a guy's name. I addressed that in this chapter, as you probably saw.

Intuerimors: I like the Slytherin/Gryffindor thing as well. And I thought I mentioned it, but I guess I didn't. I'll have to in the future… Pansy grew out of her 'pug face,' as J.K. Rowling puts it. It's a lot like how I believe that Neville can't be clumsy forever; Pansy can't be ugly and mean forever either.

FTCWriter: I know, I know, I should update more often. What can I say? I have problems with sitting down and writing, lol. Updates should come sooner next time!

SnapeJuice: Wow. I'm all flattered here! No one's ever said that to me before…

Jan McNeville: Glad you think so. *grin*

avri: I try to update, and I'm sorry that this took so long!!