Disclaimer: I don't own anything! Only the plot and various other Harry Potter merchandise which I proudly own! Hee hee! Hats off to JK Rowling!

So here is chapter 7. Because I started school today (argh!!) I will be getting loadsa homework but hopefully I will be able to update every weekend or so!

Chapter 7

Cho snapped out of her thoughts and jumped round to see Draco Malfoy staring at her with a large smirk on his face. Before she could say anything, Draco pulled her in for a passionate kiss which Cho quickly returned. Due to lack of oxygen, they soon broke apart.

"So," said Malfoy. "What have you got there then?"

"Oh nothing babe. Just a note to Harry from Granger," she replied.

Draco's eyes lit up. "Oh really?" he smirked. "What does it say then?"

However, instead of showing Draco the letter, Cho placed it in her robe pocket. Draco looked at her and he seemed quite angry.

"Oh don't worry you'll probably find out soon enough. Anyway I need to give it to him. See you tonight!" She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before turning round and running towards the castle.

"Wait a minute!" shouted Draco. "Isn't Potter at Quidditch practice?"

"Yeah, but...I want to get ready for the ball first then give it to him." Cho winked at him and continued running towards the castle, leaving Draco standing there completely confused, but very interested at the same time.

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Hermione was sitting alone in the girl's dormitory enjoying some quiet time as soon the place would be crammed with girls getting ready for the ball. It wasn't often that she got the dormitory all to herself so she took the time to finish last minute errands and finish her surprise for Harry. She couldn't wait for tonight, she knew in her heart that she would remember it for the rest of her life. She just couldn't get it out of her head, that there was a possibility that she and Harry may end up leaving the ball as more than just friends. It was something that she had been dreaming about for ages and she had always believed that that was how it would stay...just a dream.

She glanced over at her bedside table where there was a photo frame. Inside it was a picture of her, Harry and Ron. It was taken in Grimmauld place during their summer before fifth year. Sirius had held a belated surprise birthday party for Harry to make up for all the birthdays he had missed. Both Harry and Ron had their arms round Hermione (who was in the middle) and all three of them were smiling. She noticed that Harry was laughing in the picture. She missed that laugh so much. She hadn't seen him properly happy in such a long time that it was just a distant memory now. Although she had seen him smile a lot since them, she knew that most of them were just for show. Maybe...just maybe that could change tonight.

When she had finished her present for Harry she went in for a shower and washed her hair. Just as she came out of the shower she heard lots of high-pitched giggles coming from outside the dormitory. She instantly knew who it was. The door opened and Parvati, Lavender, Ginny and (to Hermione's surprise) a few other fourth and fifth years entered carrying dozens of shopping bags between them. Ginny looked utterly exhausted. She kicked her shoes off and collapsed onto Hermione's freshly made bed.

"Ginny!" shouted Hermione angrily. Ginny didn't even answer her. Hermione sighed impatiently and walked over to Lavender.

"Eh I thought you were only inviting a COUPLE of friends?"

"Yeah but then I thought how cool it would be if we all came up and had a party before the ball. How about it? It will be so much fun!!"

Hermione groaned and decided to make a start on her hair. Tonight was going to be a very long night!

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It was quarter to seven and Harry was sitting on his bed in his dormitory in his dress robes waiting for Hermione. He was holding a single white rose in his hand for Hermione. By now he was a nervous wreck and he was surprised that Ron didn't notice that his hands were shaking. Harry managed to kick the rest of the guys out of the room apart from Ron who was leaving in five minutes to meet Lavender.

"So are you nervous?" asked Ron.

"A bit actually and I don't know why. It's only Hermione and I don't even know if she is coming or not."

"I'm telling you she is," said Ron. He too was holding a rose, only it was red for Lavender. "Besides she wouldn't stand you up like this if she wasn't going with you. She would have told you earlier."

This put Harry at ease a little. "Yeah I guess you're right," said Harry.

After a few moments of silence there was a knock at the door. Harry jumped off of his bed, checked himself one last time in the mirror and cleared his throat. "Come in."

But it wasn't Hermione who was at the door. It wasn't even a Gryffindor. It was Cho Chang.

Harry only just managed to stop his jaw from dropping. Of course he no longer had feelings for her but he couldn't help but stare. She looked stunning in a long blood red dress which didn't leave a lot to the imagination. It was very low cut and flowed all the way down her legs where there was a big split at the side up to her thigh. She was also wearing long black gloves which matched the colour of her hair which was poker straight down her back. He glanced nervously at Ron who was also staring but he was doing a worse job at covering it up just like he did for Fleur. His mouth was partially open and the red rose was on the floor. And it was him who had a girlfriend!!

Harry was trying to think of something to say. 'Come on say something you moron!' But before he made a complete fool of himself (to his relief), Ron broke the silence.

"H...h.....how d-did you get in here?" he stuttered.

Cho flipped her hair back behind her shoulders and smiled innocently "I asked one of the younger Gryffindors. When I told him I had an important message for Harry he gladly let me in. Colin I think he said his name was."

"You have a message for me?" Harry asked confused.

"Mmm-hmm," said Cho. She walked up towards Harry and sat down very close to him on the bed, placing her cloak behind her. Harry backed away slightly. He was trying his hardest to only look at her face but being male, this was difficult and Cho wasn't exactly helping either.

"One of the house elves asked me to give this to you," she said as she took a piece of parchment out of the pocket in her robe. "It's from Hermione."

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Meanwhile in the girl's dorms, Hermione was trying to fix her hair but Lavender was fussing over it. Lavender had just charmed her hair so that it was straight but she wasn't too happy with it.

"No no leave it as it is it's gorgeous!" said Lavender who had her hair fixed up with a few strands at the front, framing her face.

"I just want to put a few curls in it that's all," said Hermione. She muttered a spell which scattered a few neat curls and ringlets in her hair. She finished it off with some silver glitter spray. "Well?" she said to Lavender.

Lavender crossed her arms across her chest. "Fine you were right it does look nice," she said. "I'm gonna put my dress on. I'll be back in a minute."

Lavender went into the bathroom with her dress and Hermione started to put a little make-up on. She wasn't terribly fond of it even though her mum always bought her a few bits and pieces at Christmas. Deciding against foundation, she blended light blue and silver eyeshadow on her eyelids and put on some mascara, a little blusher on her cheeks and some pink lip gloss. She had finished just as Lavender came in wearing her dress. Living up to her name, it was a lavender, spaghetti strapped dress. The bottom layer was white silk and the top was made of a thinner Lavender material which was decorated with a dusting of silver glitter. The dress ended just below her knees and she matched it by wearing strapped sandles of the same colour.

"Awww Lavender you look gorgeous!" said Hermione. The rest off the girls smiled and nodded in agreement. "Ron's face will be a picture!"

Lavender giggled and felt herself blushing at that comment. "Thanks. Now go and get your dress on we have to leave soon. GO!"

Hermione laughed at how serious Lavender was. She quickly grabbed her dress and ran into the bathroom to get changed. Five minutes later she came out fully dressed. As well as the dress she had a white shawl wrapped around her shoulders. She was also wearing a white ribbon chocker with a diamante heart in the middle and a silver t-bar heart bracelet which Harry had got her for her 16th birthday. Every girl in the room was staring at her and some even awed.

"You look absolutely beautiful!" said Lavender. "If Harry doesn't notice you in this then there must be something seriously wrong with him."

Hermione smiled at her. "Come on then, we don't want to be late."

Hermione grabbed her present for Harry and left the dormitory with Lavender by her side. "You know I still can't believe that you are going with Harry, I haven't seen you this happy in ages. I'm really happy for you."

"Thanks Lavender. You're very lucky to have Ron you know."

"Even though he is a bit of an idiot sometimes," added Lavender

Both girls giggled at this comment. When they reached the portrait, Lavender turned to Hermione.

"I'm meeting Ron at the Entrance Hall so I'll see you soon!" She gave her friend a big hug. "Good luck honey!"

"Thank you," said Hermione. She watched Lavender skip through the portrait before going back up the stairs, this time, heading to the boy's dormitory. She stopped outside the door and took a minute to fix out the creases in her dress (even though there wasn't any).

Finally, she took a deep breath and opened the door quietly.

However she viewed something she did not expect, a sight that she knew would haunt her for the rest of her life.

There, right in front of her were Harry and Cho, lying on a bed, snogging each other senseless. The top buttons of Harry's shirt were undone and the straps of Cho's dress had fallen off her shoulders. Harry had his eyes shut and his hands were roaming all over Cho's body.

It hit Hermione like a knife stabbing painfully to her heart, or what was left of it. Right there, exactly at that moment, she felt her heart break to pieces. She was frozen on the spot, unable to find the energy to move. She let out the smallest sob possible but that sob was loud enough for Harry to hear. He opened his eyes and jumped at the sight of Hermione. He had never looked so shocked in his life.

"H-h-hermione i-it's n-not-"

"Oh I know exactly what it looks like," she spat as she threw Harry's present to the floor. It landed just infront of Harry and Cho. Cho just looked at her impatiently, like she was waiting for her to leave so she and Harry could continue. She leaned in for another kiss but Hermione looked away, unable to watch.

She decided just to leave them to it. She wanted Harry to be happy after all.

She wanted to appear strong in front of them, but that proved to be very difficult. Giving up, she broke down in tears. "I d-d-didn't mean t-to inter-r-rupt anything. I'm.... j-just gonna...go."

Ignoring Harry's calls and avoiding his gaze she spun around and ran as fast as she could out of the dormitory, not knowing where she was going but also, not caring.

"HERMIONE!" shouted Harry. No response came. He wrestled himself free from Cho's grasp and ran towards the door but he nearly tripped up on an object on the floor. He turned round to see what it was that Hermione had thrown.

It was a book.

Ignoring Cho, who was sitting on the bed waiting for him, he picked up the book and sat down on one of the chairs. The cover was made of lack leather and in gold letters were the words 'Memories-Sirius Black' and there was a picture of a dog underneath. Harry opened the book and viewed the first page where there was a picture of Sirius and below it, a message in beautiful handwriting – Hermione's.

Sirius Black (Padfoot)

A noble man, friend and Godfather.

Goodbye may seem forever

Farewell is like the end

But in my heart is a memory

And there you'll always be

Harry turned the page and noticed that the book was actually a photo album. It was filled with pictures of Sirius beginning with pictures of Sirius as a boy at Hogwarts with his best friends James and Remus (Hermione had cut Peter out) and ending with pictures of him with Harry at Grimmauld Place.

Harry was speechless. It was amazing, unlike anything anyone had ever given to him. Hermione had done all of this and went to all this effort just for him. Then he remembered. She looked breathtaking, like an angel. An angel that (by the look on Hermione's face) had been painfully stabbed in the back.

"What. Have. I. Done.?" he whispered.

And just like the previous night a single tear ran down his cheek.

A/N: I was nearly crying when I wrote that! The poem is actually the chorus of a song fro the Disney Movie "The Fox and the Hound" It is one of the saddest Disney movies ever but of course, the ending is happy!

Anyway the next chapter is gonna show what happened between Harry and Cho before Hermione came in. Basically from Harry's point of view instead. It will probably start just after when Cho said 'it's from Hermione'. If you're not sure of what I mean then reading the next chapter will hopefully clear it up! In the mean time please please review! I love every single one but please no flames! Until next time!

Stephy xx

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