A/N: Hello again. I am back for the eighth chapter. I'm sorry the last one was so short, but I had to update something before anyone killed me for not typing anything for almost a week. I also want to say that the poem I use in this chapter is someone elses work, not mine. I found it off the internet, so there you go. Also, in my story, Evenescense is a wizarding band. Just wanted to let you know.

Reviewers: I'd like to thank ghypscee, pirate-elfgal, Gothic-Cutie-Blues, April, Ashlee & Aleesha, and Victoria lee for reading the last chapter. I'm sorry it was so short, but just for you, ghypscee, I am going to try to make this one a little longer, and I'll try to make things not so confusing. Gothic-Cutie-Blues, I will try, but I already have my whole story planned out in my head. I will try to incorporate it in at any possible time. Pirate-elfgal, thank you for all the times you have read my story and commented on it. I always look forward to yours, as well as everyone elses, reviews.

Reviews: You know the drill. Please review.

Disclaimer: Yah, yah, we've all heard it a million times now. Let's get on with the show...

Chapter Eight

Hermione walked across the newly dewed lawn to her Care of Magical Creatures class, which she had with Slytherin. For the last few days, to her disappointment, Malfoy had not talked to her once, or even given her a second glance. She remembered one day when she was having a conversation with Ginny about Malfoy. "He must have meant what he said," Hermione sighed.

"From what you have told me, it seems like he really had feelings for you. He may have even asked you to the masquerade, though it could have been putting on a show. I wouldn't be surprised. Draco could always revert back to his old, selfish ways. He's a Malfoy, after all." Ginny looked at Hermione and then down at her feet again.

Hermione sighed again. "Why would he play with my emotions if he didn't feel anything for me? I mean, don't you think he could maybe like me just a little?"

"He may have, but paying more attention to another guy when you know another may like you at the same time isn't exactly a good thing. It kind of turns a guy off, if you know what I mean. It's like how Harry is so protective of you that he doesn't want you to pay any attention to anyone but him, even if that means him threatening you to keep you single and away from other guys." Hermione's thoughts were interrupted by someone jabbing her in the sides with an elbow.

"Hermione, answer the question." Lavender hissed at her. Everyone was staring at her, expecting the smarty-pants of Hogwarts to immediately answer the question. Never had they caught the head girl daydreaming. Never had she not known what the teachers were talking about.

"If you don't mind, would you please answer the question?"

"Pst... He asked what a kelpie is..." Hermione didn't look to see who told her that, and she quickly answered.

"A kelpie is a water demon that can take various shapes." She smiled, and people began to stifle giggles.

"Well, Hermione," Hagrid have quite a loud cough. "That was the correct definition of what a kelpie was, but I asked what dragon had the swiftest flight. Can anyone else answer my question?" Hermione blushed furiously and looked for comfort from Blaise, who was also trying to stifle his laughs. She glared at him and stared at the ground. Malfoy raised his hand and answered the question.

"The Peruvian Vipertooth is the smallest of all known dragons, as well as the dragon with the swiftest flight." He sent an evil grin over to Hermione, and started laughing.

"That is correct. Ten points to Gryffindor, I mean Slytherin. Forget I said anything about Gryffindor. Ten points to Slytherin." The Slytherins beamed at their accomplishment. Never before had Hermione missed a question.

Hermione left the class before anyone else did, and she didn't stop even though she heard her name being called. Blaise came running up behind her and tried to take hold of her shoulder, but she just jerked away from him.

"Hermione, what's wrong? Why were you ignoring me?"

"You laughed." She stopped and looked him in the eyes. "You laughed at me, and didn't even tell off whoever told me the wrong question." Her eyes began filling with tears, and her voice grew shaky.

"It was funny. Can't you take a joke once in a while?"

"You told me you would always stick up for me. You told me that you would always defend me like you were the brother I never had. Why should I pay attention when you don't even think about what you told me?" Hermione ran off to her next class, which was ancient runes, and thank the lord she didn't have it with anyone but Neville.

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The rest of the day seemed to go by really slowly for Hermione, and she couldn't help feeling like people knew something that she didn't know.

"Neville, has anyone talked to you at all about me and said something you think I should know about?" Hermione felt kind of bad for asking, but she knew he wouldn't mind that much.

"Well, ummm. Word has been going around that you kissed Blaise Zambini right in front of all the prefects and Professor McGonnagal. I told them that you would never do that. You wouldn't want to bring that much attention to yourself, would you, Hermione?"

"Well, they aren't exactly wrong..."

"So you did, in front of Ron and everything?" Hermione had told Neville long ago what happened between her and Harry the year before, and Neville acted as, well, a spy, you could say. He was around Harry and Ron so much, and they really didn't suspect anything. "You know, Harry will probably come after you again. You really should tell Dumbledore or McGonnagal, even Snape for that matter. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Oh Neville, it's so sweet that you care that much about my safety, but don't you remember what Harry said? He said he would hurt anyone I ever got close to."

"Well, if worse comes to worse, I could always be your body guard..." Neville's voice died away as Hermione cracked up laughing. "Was it something I said? Hermione what is it?" Hermione's laughs died down as the class came to a start, and for the rest of the class, she took notes and forgot the whole dilemma between her, Harry, Ron, and Malfoy.

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Later that evening, Hermione laid down in her room, thinking about the days events, giggling about the thought of Neville being her body guard. She had another meeting for the Masquerade in about half an hour, and she decided she wanted to get there a little early. She grabbed her cloak and her wand, but before she exited her bedroom, she heard a knock on the window. Looking over, she noticed a pure white barn owl, much like Hedwig, with a letter attached to its leg. She opened the window, and it hopped onto the closest desk, and held out its leg for her to untie the letter. Instead of flying away, the owl just stayed there, so Hermione figured she'd need to reply. Opening the letter which she figured was from Dumbledore, she caught sight of curly writing that looked a lot like poetry.

Hermione,

"Sometimes at night, when I look to the sky, I start thinking of
you and then ask myself "why", "Why do I love you?" I think and smile,
because I know the list could run on for miles.

The whisper of your voice, the warmth of your touch, so many little
things make me love you so much.

The way you support me, even my silly notions. The way that you care
and show such devotion, the way that your kiss, fills me with desire,
and how you hold me with the warmth of a fire. The way your eyes shine
when you look at me, lost with you forever is were I want to be. The
way that I feel when your by my side. A sense of completion and
overflowing pride.

The dreams that I dream, that all involve you, the possibilities I
see, the things we can do. How you finish the puzzle that lies inside
my heart. How deep in my soul, you are a very important part."

I don't really know how to express my feelings to you, Hermione, I
just know that I love you. I'm not ready to let you know who I am,
but you will find out in due time. Until next time, my love. P.S. You
can keep the owl.

Hermione sat on the bed for what seemed like forever, just staring at the letter. She couldn't believe this was happening to her. It had to be a mistake. "But why does it have my name on it?" She put it in her pocket and decided to show it to Ginny before the meeting started. She turned around to face the owl and said out loud, "If you're looking for food, you should go to the owlry. I'll see you later." The owl flew out the window, and Hermione headed for the empty classroom they had the meeting in last time.

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"Well, I don't know what to tell you, except someone has the hots for you and doesn't have the guts to tell you. I just hope Harry doesn't find out. You should put that away before Ron gets here." The meeting was almost ready to start, and they only had about three weeks left until the masquerade. People were starting to get excited. Shoving the parchment back into her pocket, after Ron came in, Malfoy called the meeting to order.

"Listen, people, we only have three weeks left to plan for the masquerade. We need a plan. We need bands to play, we need decorations, and we need a food selection. Who wants to be in charge of finding bands?" A Hufflepuff girl raised her hand, and Malfoy jotted her name down. "Who wants to be in charge of food?" A Ravenclaw boy raised his hand, and Malfoy jotted his name down, also. "Well, all that's left is the decoration committee. Who wants to head it up?"

"I will." Hermione spoke up with a strong voice.

"Fine." Malfoy jotted down her name, and started deviding people into other committees. Ron was in the food planning committee, which Draco found a little funny. Ginny was on the decorating committee, and Hermione was thankful for that. Draco was on the band committee, and he sort of took over the leadership, but no one minded. From that night, there would be no regular meetings until one week before Halloween, just meetings between the committees. Malfoy dismissed the meeting, and everyone left for bed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hermione was walking to Double Potions class, and their polyjuice potion was getting along well. It should be done around Halloween, she thought. It had been a week since the last meeting of all the dance committee, and there had been three decoration committee meetings since then. Hermione had gotten two more letters from her secret admirer, and she was trying to ignore Blaise as much as possible. It was obvious that he wanted to ask her something, but she always interrupted him before he could say anything.

"For your homework tonight," Snape began, "I would like each of you to compose a paper on how the potion actually works when made correctly. I would like at least a foot and a half of parchment, if not more." Hermione thought the class flew by like a flash. It seemed like she had been there for no time at all. She left the class and headed for the library to do homework. She wasn't hungry for lunch. She had a big breakfast, and wanted to do research for her potions assignment. She sat down at a table and started looking for books. Most of the good ones would be in the restricted section of the library, but if you looked carefully, you could find a couple books on what the correct potion worked like. She still remembered what it did. She remembered from personal experience.

About an hour later, a flapping of wings disturbed her thoughts as she finished her paper. Her new owl, which she named Jasmine, came with another letter from her secret admirer. Expecting another romantic poem, she opened the letter and read:

Hermione,

I didn't know how to ask this through poetry, so I'll come straight
out with it. Will you go to the Masquerade with me? I'd be honored if
you would go with me. Whenever you are ready to reply, send your
answer with this owl. She knows where to take it.

Hermione thought for a minute, then started scratching an answer with her quill:

Well, I don't know who you are, but I'd be pleased to go with you.
There's one problem: how will I know who you are when it comes time
for the masquerade? Well, just write back.
Hermione

Hermione tied the note back onto Jasmine's leg and the barn owl took off. Hermione figured she had better get going to her next class, so she packed her books away, feeling happy for the first time in a long while.

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A/N: So, how did you guys think I did on this chapter? It's a little longer than my othe ones, and I'm really proud of myself for typing about four pages. Well, I'll start the next chapter real soon, so please do your part and review the danged story! Thanx! ~Elven at Heart