It Never Happened

"He said something to her." Ron muttered angrily to Harry. Hermione was walking a few paces ahead of them up to the school. She had barely uttered two words to anyone since they'd found her holding a crying Parvati outside the Shrieking Shack. She'd had a blank expression on her face and tears trickled down her cheeks slowly. Ron had come to the obvious conclusion: Draco.

"You don't know that for certain, Ron." Harry whispered.

"Don't go defending him, Harry. You know what the Malfoy's are like, the conniving little bastards." Harry was silent. "You're not actually sticking up for him, are you?"

"No, 'course not." Harry said defensively. "I'm just saying that we don't know what happened. I mean, Parvati was there too."

"The sad gimp probably said something to her as well." Ron shook his head. "That guy has no shame. He probably followed Hermione up there 'cause he was too cowardly to come near her when we were with her."

"Yeah." Harry said, nodding. "That's it exactly. Sad gimp."

*~*~*~*~*

Hermione was walking a few steps in front of Harry and Ron. She could hear them whispering about her, though what they were saying wasn't clear at all. Probably plotting something for Draco. She smiled. They were sweet, really, though it was so twisted. She remembered when this had all started off; that very first day in the corridor. She thought he was playing a prank…how wrong had she been?

As she entered the school she quickly got lost in the swarming masses of teenagers stampeding to and from the dinning hall. She chanced a look behind her and saw that Harry and Ron had turned into the hall, engrossed in their conversation. She quickly snuck upstairs to her sanctuary – the library.

*~*~*~*~*

Draco scanned the bookshelves before finally deciding on 'A guide to the Ancient Dark Arts'. It was censored, of course, not like the books at home. But in this school if you wanted the truth, you had to go to the Restricted Section of the library. For the most time, the professors were happy to sugar coat the wizarding world. Although after today's events so far, he had a suspicion he would not be able to concentrate on reading.

He leant back in a chair, enjoying the silence of the library. He rarely came here; it was too full of chattering first years and last-minute homeworks. But while everyone was spending their Saturday afternoons being as far away from any sort of books the library was usually free. The only other people he knew of tempted to use it on a Saturday were Percy Weasley and Hermione Granger, and seeing as one had left school many years ago and the other was still in Hogsmeade, it seemed unlikely either would show up.

Or then again maybe he was wrong…

"What the hell do you want?"

"Don't be such an immature child, Malfoy. I have urgent news for Madam Pince. Do you know where she is?"

"No I bloody well don't. Now fuck off, Percival."

Percy spun on his heel and walked towards the exit, slamming the door in the most dignified manner he could muster. Draco rolled his eyes and flicked open his book, only to be interrupted moments later by the door creaking open again.

"Piss off Percy."

"Sorry to disappoint you, Draco, but last time I checked I wasn't Percy."

Draco's head snapped up.

"Hermione." He breathed.

*~*~*~*~

"Hermione." Draco breathed.

"The one and only." She retorted, cocking an eyebrow. He swallowed and looked away. Hermione sighed. "We need to talk."

"You're probably right." He nodded. He gestured to a chair on the opposite side of the table.

She sat down on the chair, just staring at him for a few minutes, searching his eyes. Draco began to squirm uncomfortably. He cleared his throat and began to talk.

"So, are you just gonna sit there or-"

"What's going on?" She interrupted.

"What do you mean?" he asked, taken aback.

"I thought…I thought today, outside the Shrieking Shack…well, I thought we had sorted stuff out." 

Draco was silent. He looked down at the table, tracing the grains of wood with his finger. "You were wrong." He finally said.

"How come?" she asked, putting her hand over his to attract his attention away from the wood.

            "You just don't get it, do you?" He spat. She was shocked at his sudden change of mood. "When you thought we were sorting things out, it was you sorting it out. It's always you. You don't seem to understand that I'm risking my reputation for you. If my father found out about our conversations…"

          "Is that all you care about? Saving your own skin?" She retorted.

          "And you're telling me that you're concerned about my skin?" Hermione was silent. "Didn't think so." He said, leaning back and crossing his arms.

          "So what are we going to do?" she whispered after a while.

          "I don't know…what do you think?"

          "I think we both know what we have to do." She said, looking away.  Draco nodded.

          "Pretend it never happened." He said. He stood up. "Sorry it had to end like this…but it's for the best."

          "Yeah." She said, her face like stone. "It's for the best."

          "See you around, Granger."

          "Bye, Malfoy."

          "Yeah…Bye." Draco turned and walked towards the door, pulling it open and storming out into the school to resume his evil-bastard façade once again, leaving Hermione alone amongst the bookshelves.

          Almost.

          "You two faced cow."

*~*~*~*~*

          "Ginny! What the hell are you doing here?" Hermione exclaimed.

          "Shut the hell up, Hermione. What the hell was Malfoy doing here?"

          "Why would I know?" She spat.

          "Well you were talking to him!" She laughed harshly. "I don't know why I'm asking; it's pretty obvious from your conversation."

          "You were eavesdropping?" she asked incredoulsly.

          "No…I just overheard." Hermione raised an eyebrow. Ginny crossed her arms defensively. "This isn't about me, Hermione. What the hell is going on? Do you know Ron has been out of his head worrying about you?"

          "I know…I know. It wasn't intentional!" Ginny looked at Hermione, telling her that her explanation was in no way good enough. "But I never meant for it all to get so out of hand and now everything is so fucked…"

          "Neville." Ginny whispered.

          "What?" Hermione asked, sniffing. She realised she'd started crying again.

          "Neville…that stuff you said to me before, about what you should do when this someone liked you and you thought you liked them back…it wasn't Neville, was it?" Hermione looked up at Ginny with pleading eyes. Ginny shook her head.

          "I can't believe you lied to me!" she exclaimed.

          "How the hell was I supposed to tell you?" Hermione snapped back. "Was I supposed to sit you down and say 'Hey, listen Gin; there's a chance I love Draco Malfoy. You want to play Chess?' Face it, Ginny. You would not have put an arm round me and reassured me you'd be there for me."

          "You love him?" Ginny asked abstractly. "You love that sick, pathetic little excuse-"

          "I said there's a chance! Listen, I don't love him." Hermione retorted, although she had a nagging feeling she was telling herself more than Ginny.

          "Are you sure?" Hermione hesitated.

          "Yes."

          "And you won't do anything?"

          "What do you mean?"

          "You won't go pleading with him to take you back?"

          "Ginny I have more fucking self-respect than that, thank you." Hermione fumed.  "And for your information, we were never together. Not properly. So there's nothing there to take back!"

"Hermione…promise me." She said slowly. "Promise me that there is nothing and never will be anything between you and Draco Malfoy."

"Why? Why do you care Ginny?" Hermione asked.

"Because I don't want to see you hurt, even though you deserve it now. But even more so, I don't want you to hurt Ron and Harry anymore than they already have been by your lies. Now, promise me."

Hermione looked crestfallen for a moment at Ginny's words.  She looked up at Ginny and took her hand in her own.

"I promise you."

*~*~*~*~*

A little note from me: I am so sorry everyone! This chapter is way too late, I'm sorry to have kept you all waiting! Thanks for all the lovely reviews – love you all! Happy New Year!!! (by the way, don't own anything I just wrote about.)

 Allee Kat, Courtney, Danielle, Eternal Queen, Louise, Libby, Emily, lonely whisperz, Shannon, Amora - Ryuko, Leika Senara, AliChristy, WatMyHeartDesires: thank you all so much for your reviews and all the nice stuff you said!! You made me all happy lol.

Crystalline Lily: Hmm it wasn't that much happier really, was it? Hehe sorry! No it's not even nearly the end!

Zephyr: They probably will find out, yes. Mainly because I can't see how they couldn't if they live with the girl 24/7 but I can assure you there will be fireworks when they do find out, how could there not be – this is me! Lol. I know what you mean – last chapter was really off, I think this one is too. I think that if I ever had 'a touch' I'm quickly losing it…eek!

Tigris, the gothic elf of mirkwood forest: hey – I like the name! Hehe yeah it was a bit fluffy. Fluff can be good though, sometimes. In small doses. Lol. Hmm, slash? It's an idea…with who though?

angelfire294: sucked ass? Really? Ok, thanks for your view!

Silverwing: oh…I'm guessing you didn't really like this chapter then? Lol sorry – but the story's not over yet!

C: thank you! I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting! Yeah I know, she's annoying me too and the twisted thing is that if it wasn't for me she wouldn't me annoying me at all…oh God it's twisted! Lol think you're the only person who backed that ending!

Oliverwoodsgirl and greenfairie: thanks! Yeah, sorry about that lines thing – I don't know what's going wrong! It happens with loads of my fics now.

Stephanie: hehe glad you liked! Nope, it's not the end! I don't think we're near the end at all.

Tom Felton's babe: thanks! Hmm he might get scared if she did lol. It'd be fun to write though! Femme Fatale: Yeah, I know…I was almost crying writing it lol.

Caitie: The Funny Farm, huh? Cool – send me a postcard! Lol, yeah, Fluff…lots of it. Suffocating amounts. Lol, ach but fluff is nice J Hmm I've read loads of really good short fluffy fics but one that sticks out in my mind is "Honestly" by VanillaPuF, who's on my Favourite Author's list. It's short and sweet and laugh out loud funny and fluff galore – lol, just what you seem to  like! Thanks for reading this one – please keep it up!

ChaoticSlytherin: thanks for all your suggestions! Only thing is, I've already done PolyJuice to get the truth so if I did a Truth Potion it would kind of like going over old ground. And they both sort of know how they feel, they're just to stubborn really lol. But please keep up with the ideas and I'll email you for inspiration if I run out!!

RadcliffeChick: Thank you so much! I was thinking along the lines of something like that…hmm we'll have to wait and see!

Harry Potter Expert: I know, it's much better with a cliffhanger! Lol thanks for reading and reviewing!

Yotama: Hey! Yeah I love it so much – I finally got the album! You know me – am I EVER likely to finish a story quickly?!  Hehe – revel in depression. That's a nice phrase actually!

Random who didn't leave their name: Thanks, I love you too.

lilmissfrenchy: Hey! Well, I've been talking to you so you kind of know it's not the end but I'll just write this here anyway!

Voidsenshi: lol I love your animated reviews!!

M S Fisher: thank you so much for your detailed review! I've changed the summary, I was kind of thinking it was a bad summary but wasn't sure how to change it but your opinion made me decide to change it. In regards of the chapter length, yeah the first chapter was probably the shortest chapter I have ever written in my life. I suppose it wasn't really a chapter, more of an introduction and I didn't want to drag it out so that the point got lost. Thanks for reviewing this and one of my others!

innocent rambler: lol it's ok, I forgive you! Thank you!

LostAngel: My faithful reviewer! Lol, Yeah fluff can be good! I recommend you go read the fic I suggested to Caitie – it's really good for fluff! But it's well written fluff! Thanks for reading and reviewing, please keep up the great work and I hope you liked this one too!

Important notice: Ok so you might have noticed that at the end of the last chapter the document was kind of distorted and one paragraph would just be changed to one big line. This is happening with loads of the things I upload so if anyone knows how to stop it can you please tell me how? Thanken you!