A/N: sorry for the delay, and yes, I am very busy. Check my blog: or my site: and you'll see how busy I am. Nevertheless, another chapter, thanks for your reviews! - Nanja

Review! - Nikki (that's all I ever say!)

Chapter 22: Slytherin Shock

Hermione followed him into the common room. It was a lot darker in there, maybe because it was in the dungeon. The walls were a green colour with some silver stripes on it. The symbol of Slytherin, a snake, was illuminated the light.

"So. how do you like it here? Much better than the Gryffindor one, isn't it?" Draco asked.

"Sure." Hermione replied. "Whatever you say. Now, where's my room?"

"Follow me,... Sarah." Draco replied, while smiling evilly.

"Don't call me that!" Hermione said fiercely.

Draco walked to the top of the stairs, with Hermione following closely behind. Suddenly Draco stopped and Hermione bumped into him.

"What are you doing?!" Hermione said angrily.

Draco turned around and faced her. "If you ever need anything. tell me" he whispered in her ear.

Hermione felt a shiver going down her spine. Draco walked past her. Hermione walked into her room and closed the door. She looked around. This was where she was going to stay for a long time.She dropped her suitcase in the middle of the room and fell down onto the bed. Had she made a mistake by going into Slytherin? She would never sit with Ron and Harry at breakfast anymore. she didn't have classes with them anymore.

There was one happy thought and that was that Ginny was as far away as possible. How she despised that little evil witch, like Luna called her.

The next day she woke up in a strange room. Where am I? was her first thought.O yeah, I'm a Slytherin now. She quickly put on some clothes and walked down the stairs.

There was no one there. She flopped down into a large chair near the fire. She sat there a while, just thinking about everything that had happened the past few days. She heard someone coming down the stairs, but didn't look up. That someone sat down across her in another chair. Finally she looked up and saw Draco sitting there, looking at her with an intense look.

"What?!" she snapped at him.

Draco blinked. "What is it?" he asked back.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" she asked again.

"Don't flatter yourself! Just because I like what I see doesn't mean I meant you" he replied.

"Fine!" Hermione said grumpily. She stood up and walked out of the common room. Draco still sat there, looking after her with a frowning look.

Hermione entered the Great Hall. She looked around and saw Ron and Harry at the Gryffindor table. She felt a sudden urge to go over there and sit next to Harry.

Just then, Ginny came walking over to them and sat down next to Harry and put her head on his shoulder.The urge to go over there was over and now she just wanted to puke. She walked over to the Slytherin table and sat down at the end. She didn't want to talk to anyone.

A lot of people were looking at her with a strange look, because she was now sitting at the Slytherin table instead of next to Harry at the Gryffindor table. She glanced over at Harry and felt replaced by Ginny. She was jealous that Ginny could spend so much time with him and she couldn't.

No, she was stuck with these idiots here. The only one that made her feel a little better was surprising enough. Draco. She swallowed. He was actually kind of nice when he wasn't insulting her. And on top of all. he wasn't bad looking either.

She gulped. What did she just say? Draco and good looking in one sentence. What was wrong with her?

Just than the subject of her thoughts came walking in and sat down next to her. She glanced at him and their eyes met. She quickly turned away and occupied herself with pouring some Pumpkin juice in her glass.

What were these strange feelings she was feeling?

She didn't know that Draco was having the same kind of thoughts next to her. He was gazing intently at her. She was actually kind of pretty looking like this, he thought while smiling a little. Maybe. just maybe it wasn't so bad having her in Slytherin. Now he had someone with who he could have intelligent conversations. He needed someone to talk to once in a while, and to be honest, Crabbe and Goyle got boring very fast.

Hermione finished her breakfast as soon as possible. She wanted to get out of there. She could feel Draco staring at her. She almost felt herself blush at the thought.

She stood up abruptly and walked out of the Great Hall.

In the corriders she met someone who she rather didn't want to see or talk with; Harry. He came walking over to her, grabbed her arm and pulled her with him into an empty classroom.

"Potter! Just what are you playing at?" she snapped, while it was causing her a lot of pain to say these words.

"Hermione, I know this is not you. You can't be!" Harry tried again.

Hermione cast her eyes downwards. At that moment Draco came walking into the classroom. "Stop bothering Sarah, Potty!" Draco snapped at him.

"Sarah?" Harry asked bemused. "Sarah?!" Harry was getting hysterical. "What are you talking about? She's not Sarah, she's Hermione! My best friend! You don't even know her! Why are you calling her Sarah anyway? Hermione, you shouldn't let him call you Sarah!"

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Draco can call me whatever he likes." She replied.

Harry dropped his jaw and wanted to protest when Ginny came walking in as well "So, Granger, got yourself a boyfriend" she said, with her eye on Draco.

Draco gave her a very disgusting look and turned around "Come on Sarah, we're going"

Hermione gave Harry a last look and turned around as well "Draco!" she suddenly remembered that there was going to be another ball. "Draco, care to go to the ball with me?" she smiled and she could feel Harry break behind her.

Draco grinned "Sure"

Harry walked away with a turned down expression on his face, closely followed by Ginny.

The first lesson they had was potions, Hermione was a bit relieved that she could get along with Draco, or else she would've been really in a bad mood. Since she knew Snape was the Slytherins headmaster, she found him not so annoying anymore. Though she still hated him for the cruciatus,. o, that seemed to be such a long time ago. When she tried to hide the fact Snape was Harry's,. uncle. She shivered. Who would want that greasy bastard as family? She met Harry's eyes across the classroom. She saw him trying to concentrate on the potion. But his mind was definately on something else.

Hermione sighed and tried to cut all her ingredients in the right order. Draco watched her closely, and when she almost dropped her knife, he quickly grabbed it and handed it back "Be carefull with knifes,. they could hurt you" he grinned.

Hermione didn't really understand if it was meant as warning or more as if he was worried about her. She shook her head. He would never be worried about her.

When the class was over, Hermione found herself in a new situation; Pansy Parkinson.

"GRANGER! I heard YOU and MY Draco are going together to the ball? What's the deal?" Pansy was standing in front of her, blocking the way to her room.

"What? O, get a life!" Hermione said, while trying to push Pansy out of her way. But Pansy didn't move and pushed her hard. So hard, that Hermione tripped over her feet and fell backwards from the stairs.

Draco came walking in and saw Hermione lying on the floor in front of the stairs. He hurried over to her "What happened?" he asked.

Hermione shook her head and growled "Pansy,.." while pointing at the laughing Pansy.

Draco gritted his teeth and told her to stay. "I'll take care of that witch" he spoke softly.

He angrily walked to Pansy and grabbed his wand. He pointed it at her face "Now you LISTEN! I am not your PET and certainly NOT your boyfriend!"

Pansy became pale. "You,.. you. It's ALL BECAUSE OF HER!!" she yelled while pointing at Hermione, who just came to her feet.

"It has NOTHING to do with her!" Draco said, but quickly turned around so Pansy couldn't give him the look in the eye.

Hermione was amazed that Draco was actually competing for her.