"A plan." Hermione uttered the word with loathing. "As if there haven't been enough bets, plots, and counterplots."

"Hermione… . what's wrong?"

"He's driving me crazy."

"Harry or Ron?" Ginny asked. "They only want Harry to win the bet."

"No Draco." Hermione flung a pillow across the room. "Between the conversations and the kiss"

"Draco, you kissed Malfoy?" Ginny's voice squeaked incredulously.

"Well, he kissed me, but I didn't exactly shove him away."

"You kissed Malfoy."

"Would you stop saying that. I know perfectly well it was a stupid thing to do. This whole bet is part of some crazy plan to get me to like him."

"Why does he care?' Ginny asked. "I mean besides the obvious uhm "

"I don't know. He seems to be going through some sort of crisis. I never thought I was the type to want needy guys."

"Please. That whole family doesn't need a thing – except to be ground into the dust with the rest of Voldemort's supporters."

"But I just didn't think of those things. Somehow, at the time, I didn't care. It was terrifying."

"Hermione, you've got to care. He would kill Harry, me, you, anyone who opposed him, who didn't fawn on him in a heartbeat."

"I know but he's not Lucius, and he's not Voldemort, and…"

"And I would never have thought you'd betray"

"Of stuff it Ginny. I'm not betraying anyone. It was a kiss, an experiment, not an oath."

"I'm sorry." Hermione. "I'm the last one who should talk, considering that whole mess first year."

"That wasn't your fault, Ginny."

"It was. I should have been smarter. I should have known better than to trust the diary. You've always been sensible. You even had McGonagal check Harry's firebolt."

"I know." Hermione said. "That's why this is eating at me. I don't like doing stupid, dangerous, things, at least not without Ron or Harry."

"So you're not going to go to the Yule Ball with him? "

"I never said I would."