Disclaimer ~ I do not own the characters. I own the plot though!

'Soft white orbs!'

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"Granger! I thought we had a deal." Malfoy said shoving Hermione into a wall.

"I'm sorry. I forgot."

Malfoy looked at the girl. "You really are pathetic. Do you have my homework?" Hermione nodded and opened her bag. She handed him the books.

"There. Now I did what you wanted." She turned and started to walk down the hall, before Malfoy grabbed her arm.

"I'm not done with you yet." She turned and faced him. Heis cold gray eyes stared back at her.

She sighed. "What now?"

" I'm getting sick of watching you and the Weasel kissing every where I go. So, I want you to break up with him."

"What?"

"You heard what I said."

"No."

"Either you make an easy breakup, or I tell Weasley about you and Potter, and then it gets messy." He folded his arms across his chest as a sly smile played across his lips.

"Fine."

"That's a good Mudblood." He winked and walked away.

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"What was that about?" Ginny asked turning to Harry and Ron. Ron shrugged his shoudlers, and Harry looked away. "You know something don't you Harry?"

Harry shook his head. "No." Ginny nodded and Ron looked down the hall at a very upset Hermione running towards them.

"'Mione! What's wrong?" Ron asked putting his arm around Hermione's shoulder.

She shrugged it off. "Don't touch me!" She put her face into her hands. Ron and Ginny exchanged glances. Harry hurried over to Hermione and walked away with her.

"What did you do to her?" Ginny asked slugging her brother across the chest.

"I didn't do anything!" Ron answered throwing his arms up in the air.

"Maybe it's that time of the month?" Fred suggested as Ginny threw him a look. "Or maybe not."

"Then tell me, Ron, why she wouldn't let you touch her!" Ron shrugged his shoulders.

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"Hermione?" Harry asked her as soon as they were out of everyone's hearing range. "Did you get a letter from Malfoy at breakfast?"

She nodded and looked up at Harry. "Yesterday. He made me do his homework. That's why I was so late coming back to the Gryffindor Tower last night."

"That's not so bad."

"Now he wants me to break it off with Ron." Harry looked down at his hands.

"Do you think the same thing is going to happen to Ginny and me?"

"Just don't make public displays of affection."

"Huh?"

"As long as Malfoy doesn't see you two together, then he won't do anything."

"Oh, okay."

"I have to talk to Ron."

He gave Hermione a sympathetic hug and they walked back to the group.

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"I need to talk to you Ron." She looked into her hands as she talked to him.

His eyebrows furrowed. "Alright." He tried taking her hand but she tugged it out of his grasp. She walked him out of hearing range. "Did I do something wrong?"

She shook her head. "No."

"What is it then?"

"We need to break up."

"What? Why?"

She looked down at her hands. "Um, well. My grades have been slipping and I need to keep them up, if I want to be a prefect again next year."

"Oh. I have to go."

Hermione nodded and watched as Ron walked away.

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Hermione was once again stuck doing Malfoy's homework. This time she had both his muggle studies and his divination homework. Both classes she no longer took.

She closed the books and stuffed them into her backpack. She stood up and stretched. She headed upstairs to the Gryffindor tower.

She walked through the portrait hole to find Harry and Ron playing a game of wizard's chess. "Hi Hermione." Harry said.

"Hello." She said through a yawn. She dropped her bag onto the ground.

"Tired?" Ginny asked looking up.

"Yeah. I'm going to go to bed." She yawned as she headed up the stairs.

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Harry stood up. "I'm going to bed. Are you coming?"

"No. I'm going to stay down here a little longer."

Harry nodded and walked up the stairs slowly. Ron watched until Harry was out of sight. He walked over to Hermione's bag and opened it up.

He made sure Ginny wasn't watching and looked into it. "Ron! What are you doing?" Ginny asked.

"Nothing!" He said snapping it shut.

"I saw you looking in her bag!"

"I was just looking for something." He lied.

"Codswallop. Never did through a girl's things!"

Ron rolled his eyes. "I just wanted to find out what was in there."

Ginny turned her attention back to her book. After a few minutes she looked up, "So, what was in there?"

Ron smiled. He opened it again and looked into it. "There's a divination book, and a muggle studies one."

"So?"

"She dropped both of those classes."

"Then why does she have the books?"

"I don't know. Maybe she using the time turner again!"

"The what?"

"In third year she didn't have enough room for all of her classes, so she used a time turner so that she could fit all the classes in."

"You don't think she's using it again, do you?"

"I don't know. You should ask her."

"Okay." She shrugged her shoulders.

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