Hey everyone, how've ya'll been doing? I'm good. But I just wanted to inform you guys that I won't be here for a little while, since I'll be at a soccer tournament. I'll be sure to update the minute I get back though! Now remember, I don't own Harry Potter, but the storyline is mostly mine. So yeah..enjoy!

Chapter 6

[Previously]

"Hey Hermione!" he greeted her, then nodded towards Draco, who just scowled.

"Hey Eric!" Hermione greeted back. Draco still stood by Hermione's side, like a guard; unmoving and fierce.

"I was just wondering..."

[End]

"Yes?" Hermione prompted.

"You wanna go out some time?" He asked, staring straight into her eyes. Hermione was taken aback. Someone...wanted to go out...with her? Hermione dropped her bookbag out of shock. So she quickly bent down to get it. Above her, Draco glared at Eric, who smirked cockily and mouthed what looked like 'mine.' This made Draco glare even more.

"Umm...OK," Hermione said uneasily as she shifted her bag over her shoulder.

"Great! Maybe you want to get a bite to eat this weekend? I hear it's a Hogsmeade weekend," Eric commented.

"Alright. We'll work out the details later, OK?" Hermione said.

"Sure. I'll talk to you after Arithmancy tomorrow!" Eric said before jogging back over towards his own table.

"Come eat with me since none of our friends are here," Hermione suggested, turning to Draco. Draco scowled in Eric's direction before looking down at Hermione.

"Alright, but if anyone asks, it's Head business," Draco said, as the headed towards the unfamiliar territory of the Gryffindor table. Hermione nodded and lead him over to her table.

Draco looked around uneasily, almost ignoring the fact that food was on his plate.

"You gunna eat? You were the one complaining about being hungry," Hermione commented as she took a bite of waffles.

"Oh...yeah," Draco said absentmindedly as he picked up a fork and cut apart some scrambled eggs.

10 minutes later, more students started to come in droves, and Draco decided it wouldn't be the best idea to stay. Besides, they had both mostly finished their meals.

"Umm...You wanna go back and help me plan out my project?" Draco said in a near whisper.

"Sure," Hermione agreed, shivering at the hot breath in her ear.

Just as the pair were walking out, Ginny, Harry, and Ron walked in.

"Hermione!" Ginny called out, dashing towards her friend.

"Hey, I'll catch up with you in a few minutes, ok?" Hermione said quietly as she opened her arms for the embrace she knew was coming. Draco said nothing as he stalked out of the room. Hermione quirked an eyebrow, but was soon nearly talked to the ground.

"Oh my gosh, I haven't seen you in like, forever!" Ginny exaggerated as she squeezed Hermione's torso.

"It's only been a day!" Hermione giggled.

"Still feels like longer. So was that Malfoy I saw you with?" Ginny said. Harry and Ron sat down at the table, gesturing for them to come over.

"Yeah,"

"May I ask why?" Ginny asked, a mischievious glint in her eye.

"Um...Head business. You know, top secret stuff," Hermione said with a wink.

"Ooh, do tell," Ginny said.

'Uh oh,' Hermione thought, she had to come up with something good. Her friends would see through her if she didn't come up with a response, and quick!

"Uh...Hogwarts is going to have a...uh...a party!"

"A party?" Ron said in between toast bites. Harry munched, silently watching the exchange with mirthful eyes.

"Uh yeah, but that's all I can tell you! I gotta go now! I'll talk to you guys later!" Hermione said, dashing out the door.

"Miss Granger!" A deep voice bellowed from the front of the room. Hermione stopped and turned around slowly. Dumbledore waved her over.

"Yes, Professor Dumbledore?"

"So Hogwarts is going to have a dance is it?"

"Oh, um. I just made that up because-"

"Well, if you don't want to let your friends down, you might want to plan this party. I'll leave it up to you and Mister Malfoy to decide the details. Just tell me when the date is," he said, his eyes shining behind his half-crescent glasses. Hermione nodded and trudged out of the room.

'Draco is going to kill me for giving him extra duties' Hermione groaned inwardly as she made her way up the staircase.

"We have to what?!" Draco's voice echoed all throughout the Head Dormitories. He paced back and forth, spitting mad.

"I'm sorry! You said you didn't want anyone to know that we were eating together, and that was the first thing that popped in my mind!" Hermione yelled back.

"Argh!" Draco said, running his hand through his hair.

"Alright, we better plan this dance then," Draco said, plopping down on the Slytherin couch.

"Yeah, I guess we should," Hermione agreed, sitting down next to him, placing her hands in her lap. Draco extended an arm on the back of the couch.

"OK, so should it be for all years?" Hermione asked.

"How about just 7th years?" Draco said. He wasn't fond of the idea of little first years running around when he was trying to make his moves on the ladies.

"How about 6th and 7th? Ginny would kill me if she got excluded," Hermione said, frowning.

"Fine,"

"So...should we serve food, and what kind of activities?"

"Why not just serve some food and drinks, and hire a DJ. Everyone can either talk and hang out, or dance," Draco suggested.

"Great idea! We could serve finger foods and just have a bunch of punch bowls and stuff," Hermione said. Draco laughed evilly at the prospect of a bunch of punch bowls. Hermione caught on and followed up her statement.

"Of course, we'll have to look into some anti-spiking spells,"

"You just have to take the fun out of everything, don't you, Granger?"

"Do -you- wan't a bunch of drunken 6th years crashing into you and asking you for sex?" Hermione said, eyeing him out of the corner of her eye. Draco huffed in response.

"Well, I'd get that anyways," Draco said, referring to the statement about people asking him for sex.

"Really? People regularly come up to you drunk off their bums asking for sex?"

"No! I mean, when they're sober, I get girls crawling all over me,"

"Funny, I haven't seen any of that this year, or even the end of last year,"

"So I'm trying to clean up my image a bit," Draco shrugged, gripping the back of the couch a little tighter.

"Let's have it the week before the quidditch season begins," Hermione suggested after a moment of consideration.

"So it doesn't conflict with practice, good idea. I like the way you think!" Draco said. Even if hell froze over and Voldemort revealed himself to be a possessed pink fuzzy bunny slipper, he would not miss quidditch practice.

'This year, Slytherin will beat those disgusting Gryffindors!' He thought happily.

"Really?" Hermione asked in disbelief.

"Well...some of the time," Draco blanched. Hermione turned and hugged him in a spur of the moment thing. He had just said he liked they way she thought, which was one of the sweetest things she had ever heard out of his filthy mouth.

Draco meanwhile, sat there unmoving in shock. Slowly he raised his arms up and wrapped them around her. They stayed that way for a few seconds before letting go rather abruptly.

"Agh, now I got girl germs all over me!" Draco said, looking at himself in sheer (possibly fake) disgust.

"Shut up, Malfoy, and get to class!" Hermione yelled, as she picked up her bag and stalked out the portrait hole. Draco grinned and followed her out.

The rest of the week went by normally. Hermione hung out with Harry, Ron, and Ginny more and had classes and assignments more often, so she didn't see too much of Draco. Some fleeting greetings and meager waves and nods sufficed for their communication.

Soon, it was Saturday morning. Hermione turned over in bed, humming as she started to gain consciousness. The sheets below her rustled as she pushed herself up and stretched out like a cat. She heard a few satisfying cracks as the stiffness in her back was relieved.

She pulled back the bed curtains, which she had drawn for the hell of it, and stepped out. Hermione looked back at her soft, warm bed regretfully, but no, she had work to do that day!

Draco looked up from his post at his sink. Shaving cream adorned the lower half of his face and he had a razor poised in hand. He paused, like a deer caught in headlights, as Hermione walked in. He quickly regained himself and rinsed his razor out before taking another swipe at his face.

"Morning," Hermione mumbled her greeting as she took out her tooth brush and paste. Draco 'Mmm-ed' in response.

"So, aren't you going to be the busy one today," Draco commented as he patted the water off his tender cheeks.

"What do you mean?" Hermione said in a frothy tone, careful that she didn't spit as she spoke.

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, you're going to go shopping with Ginny, get a cup of coffee with Eric, and you're going to help me look for that antique store for dollhouse furniture," Draco said tartly.

"Oh gosh..." Hermione said, realizing all the promises she had made.

"So what are you going to do, Granger?" Draco said, saying her name with a touch of bitterness.

"I suppose I'll go shopping with Ginny first, get some coffee with Eric, and then help you,"

"All of this within a four hour time frame?"

"I can do it!" Hermione said indignantly. She wasn't sure she liked the tone Draco had taken on that morning.

"Just remember, you don't have a time turner to help you this time," Draco reminded her before walking out of the bathroom. Hermione glared after him.

'Stupid Malfoy. Thinks he knows everything,' Hermione thought angrily as she finished getting ready.

She walked back into her room, and picked up her black school robes.

"That's right, it's a Hogsmeade weekend! Normal clothes!" Hermione said aloud cheerily. She opened her armoire and fingered a few shirts. She finally selected a pink polo shirt with miniature white and grey stripes. She tugged it on over her head, nearly popping a button off.

'I gotta remember to unbutton my shirts before putting them on,' Hermione vowed as she selected a pair of jeans and a rainbow belt she'd had since her third year.

She put a few coins in her tan cargo purse before setting out into the common room. She stood stalk still at the sight in front of her. From behind, the platinum blonde boy was wearing some faded jeans and a black long sleeve shirt, the sleeves of which had been rolled up to the elbow.

Draco felt eyes on his back, and turned around. He saw Hermione giving him the once over, and he smirked.

Hermione's eyes widened a little. The top few buttons were undone, exposing a little bit of the flesh on his chest. He had spritzed on some aftershave and he smelled vaguely like pine.

Draco observed the girl in front of him. She looked preppy in a way, but she still looked pretty good. Draco shrugged the feeling off as he nodded his head in the general direction of the portrait hole. Hermione nodded silently, and the two set off.

Hermione and Draco met up with Ginny in the courtyard, and Ginny quickly latched onto Hermione's arm.

"So, do you want to come and shop with us?"

"Please, Granger, I do have better things to do than hang around with the Gryffindor Bookworm and the Weaselette," Draco said, rolling his eyes.

"Like what?" Ginny challenged angrily.

"That's for me to know," Draco said as he walked off. "Oi! Zabini!" He called to his friend ahead.

"Insolent jerk," Ginny spat after him.

"He's actually not that bad," Hermione said as the two walked down the dirt path towards the little town of Hogsmeade.

"Dear Lord! Hermione has joined the darkside!" Ginny said, feigning horror.

"Oh shut up, Ginny" Hermione said, punching her friend softly in the arm to try and shut her giggles up.

"I was just teasing,"

"I know, but I'm serious. He can be a jerk sometimes, even I won't deny that, but this past week hasn't been so bad. He's been...decent!" Hermione said.

"Really? How so?" Ginny asked, thoroughly interested in what her friend saw in her brothers' enemy number one.

"Well, he admitted that he needed help with a few things, and that he admires the way I think," Hermione said, blushing at the memory.

Ginny quirked an eyebrow.

"Is there something going on between you two?"

"No!"

"Just checking...But you know if there was, you could tell me. He is pretty cute,"

"Tell me about it," Hermione said as the two giggling girls stepped onto the cobblestone path of the town.

After forty-five minutes of shopping, Hermione and Ginny were looking in a bookstore. Hermione was standing in front of Gilderoy Lockhart's first books, and she rolled her eyes. What had she seen in that disgusting fake? She heard a ring in the background, and Ginny came up behind her, holding a book out to her.

The book was red textured cloth, and the cover felt a little puffy. A gilded heart and a key were embroidered on the cover. The pages were all blank, and lined with silver ink. A red satin ribbon flowed out of the spine of the book.

"It's a diary. I know you've been holding in a lot of things lately, so, since you might not want to tell me, you can spill your gut in this," Ginny said, pushing the diary into Hermione's hands.

"Thanks, Gin! It's great! I'll be sure to write in it a lot!" Hermione said, putting the book in her cargo purse. The two smiled at each other as they made their way out of the store and back down the street.

The clock on top of Gringott's bank rang loudly, signaling that it was noon. Hermione had a little less than two hours to hang out with Eric and help Draco with his project supplies.

Luckily for Hermione, she didn't have to look hard for her date. Eric came running up the street, waving.

"Hey there!" he called out.

"I'll leave you two alone for your little date, now. Have fun. I'll be in the candy shop if you need me," Ginny said, backing away from her friend.

"OK, talk to you later!" Hermione called back to the red-haired girl. Eric came jogging up as she finished her salutations.

"Hey," Hermione said to Eric as he trotted up to her side.

"Hello. How're you today?"

"I'm good. You?"

"I'm terrific. So, wanna go get a drink?" Eric suggested.

"OK, sounds good to me," Hermione said. Eric grinned and wrapped his arm around her waist, dangerously low in Hermione's book, and lead her down the street. Hermione's tennis shoes scuffed the cobblestone street as she looked through the windows of the shops they passed by, trying to ignore the feel of his hand near her butt.

Hermione got a confused look on her face when Eric led her to the door of the Three Broomsticks. She had thought Eric was taking her to the nice coffee shop Harry took Cho to. Hermione shrugged and decided to 'go with the flow.'

Her decision proved to be a very bad one, as after an hour and 6 shots of firewhiskey later, Eric was quite drunk. His speech was slurred, and he started to pink around the cheeks.

"Scho schweet-cheeks, howsch about you lean in and give Daddy a kissch?" Eric said, swaying slightly in his seat, and looking at Hermione through half-lidded eyes. Hermione frowned. Their conversation had started out nicely enough, learning that Eric was from Norway, but had been kicked out of Durmstrang for a reason he did not wish to enclose, and much more about himself. It was hard for Hermione to get a word in edgewise, as Eric proved to be a real chatterbox.

"Err...No thanks," Hermione said, wincing at his rancid breath. Eric leaned towards her. Hermione regretted choosing a booth to sit in, and even more so her insistence of him being at her side and not across from her.

"Come on, you know you wanna," Eric said, edging even closer.

"I said, 'no thanks'!" Hermione insisted, moving as far away as she could, which proved to be only inches as she pressed her right shoulder up against the wall.

"I waschn't aschking. I wasch telling," Eric said as he firmly pressed his lips against hers, pushing her back against the wall with his body. Hermione squirmed under the kiss and shoved him away a few inches.

"Stop it!" Hermione yelled. Her yell was mostly in vain, as the bar was quite crowded, and most everyone was yelling to be heard over the crowd.

"Quit putting up a fight. You may shink you're a bookworm, but I know you want me," Eric said, shoving his lips against hers again. He wrapped his arms around her, placing one hand at the base of her skull to push her further into the kiss.

Hermione pushed and pushed against his chest, but to little or no avail. Hermione shuddered when she felt his thick wet tongue trying to pry her lips open and gain access to the hot cavern of her mouth. But Hermione kept her lips firmly sealed. She closed her eyes and willed him to stop. After a few minutes of him slobbering all over her, she felt a weight being lifted off the seat.

She opened her eyes and saw Eric had been pulled out of the booth roughly. He was now sprawled on the ground, with an empty shot glass by his ear. She looked at the young man laying on the dirty ground, groaning in pain, and wondered who had been her savior. She looked up and saw...

Ooh cliffy. You're all probably going to yell at me, but hey! It was long this time wasn't it? Also, just to let you know, it's not who you think it is ::cough::notDraco::cough:: Alright, I'll update maybe early 2morrow morning (if i do, it'll be short) otherwise either sunday night, or monday morning. Okies, take care everyone, and please review! Lots of love to everyone (specially Ashley, whom this chapter is dedicated to. I love you Ashley! Hope you feel better!)
English-Foxlette