Disclaimer: All things Harry Potter related are owned by J.K. Rowling and the title is a variation of the movie "How to Lost a Guy in Ten Days" property of…um… the movie people.
"Oh my god," whispered Ginny. She, Harry, and Ron were all staring wide-eyed at the display before them. The display itself had not actually acknowledged the fact that they were being watched.
"Hermione is…. is…." Harry couldn't finish.
"Is snogging Draco!" cried Ron. Hermione and Draco jumped apart. Draco hastily wiped off some of the Hermione lipstick that had smudged onto his own lips but they remained red.
"When did you guys wake up?" asked Hermione.
"You were sleeping for awhile," Draco added, as cool as ever. He ran his fingers through his flaxen hair.
"We woke up when we heard sounds," muttered Ron. Harry elbowed him.
"Um…we're going to be heading back to the common room, okay? Are you coming Hermione?" asked Harry. He didn't quite wait for an answer and helped Ginny up and they left together, Ron following behind. He gave a forlorn glance back at Draco and Hermione before he hurried after the other two.
"What do I tell them?" whispered Hermione. Draco grinned.
"Tell them that you're madly in love with me." Hermione signed exasperated.
"Why do you have such a big ego?" she asked. She stood up, prepared to leave Draco. As soon as she did, though, Draco caught her hand and pulled her back down on top of him.
"You tell me," he said softly into her ear. As he kissed her neck, Hermione's mind wandered back to the project and she felt a twang of guilt. She pulled away.
"I gotta go," she said, struggling to keep a sarcastic smile on her face.
"I'll see you around…?" Hermione looked over her shoulder. She waved over her shoulder and walked away into the darkness of the castle, leaving Draco.
Draco watched her leave and frowned, running his hands through his hair again. Why was he falling for a Gryffindor? The very epitome of a Gryffindor too. Right up there with Dumbledore's golden boy and his loyal puppy dog.
Draco grinned to himself. Hermione's a witch, all right. She's put him under his spell.
Step Seven: Okay, so you hooked up with him? Well, don't start jumping all over him expecting him to be your boyfriend. Boys are terrified of commitment. Give him some room…and let him come to you.
Hint: To make him come to you faster, be sure too be alluring and just out of reach. You'll drive him crazy.
"Hermione, what was that?" asked Ginny. She pounced on Hermione the minute she walked into the common room. Ginny had sent the boys to bed but waited for her friend.
"What was?" asked Hermione, playing for time. Ginny smacked Hermione…hard.
"Ow, Ginny," she cried, rubbing her arm.
"You'll wake up the whole tower," said Ginny. She dragged Hermione into the prefect room.
"I can't believe it," Ginny cried. "You TOLD me you had kissed him but I can't believe he'd snog you in front of everyone like that!"
"Wait." Hermione was very confused. "Wait, you did know something was going on between us but then…why did you act so confused back there?" Ginny rolled her eyes.
"Hermione, what would have Ron and Harry think if I pretended like everything was okay? They would have interrogated me the first thing we got back to the common room."
"Oh…right," said Hermione, slowly.
"You're amazing," said Ginny. "Now what are you going to do?" Hermione bit her lip thinking.
"Give him room," she decided. "Guys hate commitment right? The last thing he'll want is for me to expect him to be my boyfriend just because we kissed." Ginny raised her coppery eyebrows, surprised.
"That's smart…but I'm not going to follow your advice," she said, looking wicked.
"What?" Ginny checked her watch.
"Oh, I have to go. I'm meeting a certain tousled, dark haired boy upstairs…in his room…" Ginny trailed off suggestively.
"Genvra Weasley!" Hermione yelped. Ginny hit her over the head with one of Hermione's many pillows.
"I've been waiting for a long time for this," said Ginny, grinning. "And I'm going to milk it for all it's worth." Seeing Hermione's horrified expression, Ginny hastily added, "That's not what I meant. No, not that way. Oh my god Hermione, you look like you're going to faint. I didn't mean it that way. Hermione?"
Hermione walked into doubles Potion alone and scanned her room with her eyes expertly. Seeing as how Draco was avoiding her eyes, she strutted across the room in her four-inch heel boots and a recently shortened skirt of an already short skirt. She earned several hoots from the rowdy boys. Hermione settled herself next to Harry and Ron.
"Have a nice midnight snack last night, Harry?" asked Hermione. Harry's normally pale face flushed ever so pink.
"What? You went to the kitchens without me?" said Ron, indignantly. "I was starving last night, after all that manual labor."
"I don't know, Ron," said Hermione, slowly, evilly, making Harry squirm a bit. "I think you and Harry's tastes are quite different now. You probably wouldn't have liked what Harry had last night. Ginger pie."
"Food's food, what can there be to like and not like? I love ginger pie. I like gingerbread cookies, I like ginger anything," whined Ron. Harry kicked Hermione underneath their desks and gave her a warning look. Hermione looked away and smirked, earning herself another kick. Finally she turned and rolled her eyes and nodded ever so slightly. She felt Harry relax.
Hermione, turning her head, saw Draco looking at her with a mixed bit of disinterest and longing. He was obviously trying to look like he didn't care…but failing miserably, in Hermione's eyes anyway. Come on, look at me, Hermione ordered. And Draco obeyed so quickly that Hermione, for a minute, swore he was listening to her thoughts. Their eyes met for a second then Hermione's eyes snapped up as Snape entered the room.
"I apologize for the delay," said Snape, briskly. "Tied up with other things as of the moment." Four pairs of murderous eyes followed him.
"What are you doing there goggling at me like a bunch of idiots? Start the potion where we left off yesterday!" There was a sudden movement among the students as they rushed to get out their half-finished potions, Neville knocking his over in the process by mistake.
"I'm sorry!" he cried, as the potion ate through the wood of the table. Snape swore under his breath.
"Repairo," he commanded and the table magically restored itself. "Ten points from Gryffindor, Neville, partner up with Ms. Granger for the rest of the project." Neville, pink in the face, moved among the throng of students to get to Hermione but when he got there, he found his partner gone, skirt swishing, heading towards a certain blonde Slytherin.
"Do you have any more of the fire powder?" asked Hermione. Draco's head snapped up so quickly Hermione almost heard a click. His expression was cool and controlled but his movements were not. He was nervous. Hermione Granger, Hogwarts' little bookworm, was making Draco, Hogwarts' badass rebel, nervous.
"What?" he muttered.
"Fire powder," repeated Hermione, sounding bored. "I ran out." Draco shoved it into her hands.
"Thanks. This fire powder is amazing," whispered Hermione, dark lined eyes going wide. "It makes me so hot." Draco looked at her in the eye this time.
"Don't make too much of a display, Granger, or else people will think you're easy."
"People are wrong." Hermione turned, making sure the skirt twirled and lifted just enough to show him some of her legs and walked away. To Draco it seemed like she effortlessly glided by the mess of people back to Neville. Then Draco mentally slapped himself. Back to the potion, he told himself. Then deal with my insanity later…
