Delusion Chapter 7 (at last)

Harry sat in Potions, thankful that it was only a lecture period and he could doodle and daydream in peace. He couldn't believe it, but his heartbeat became faster every time he saw Pansy. She wasn't bad looking in the least, but what surprised him the most was probably how nice she was. Everything he had thought about her, he was beginning to forget with every word he spoke to her. He looked in her direction. She was busy whispering to Malfoy—he cringed in disgust. Surely he wasn't jealous? He had only known Pansy for a short period of time, though…maybe she had a 'thing' with Malfoy. Or maybe not; after all, Malfoy was notorious for flavors of the week. Maybe she'd been one of them a long time ago. Or maybe they were just friends, or she was asking him for help, or…he clutched his head in exasperation. When did he start caring so much?

Suddenly he realized that everyone was packing up; the lesson was over. "Hey, wait up, guys," he called out to Hermione and Ron.

He heard Hermione sigh distinctly. "How could you not realize that Potions—of all classes, honestly!—wasn't over?"

"Just daydreaming," Harry replied quickly.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Hurry up," he said as he hauled them to the door. "I want to eat."

"Are you ever not hungry?" Hermione snapped.

Ron scowled at Hermione. "Are you in a bad mood or something?"

"Genius," she replied darkly.

Ron muttered something which sounded rather similar to "PMS" and Harry had to snigger.

"Oh, you two!" Hermione snapped and stormed off ahead of them.

"What's gotten into her?" Ron asked curiously.

Harry shrugged, his thoughts once again occupied by Pansy. "Dunno," he answered.

"Well, haven't you talked to her lately?"

Harry shook his head. "Well, not since…I asked her to the dance…" Harry restrained himself from slapping his head as he recalled that he had asked Hermione to the dance. Shit, he thought, his mind still on Pansy. He wanted to take Pansy to the dance, not Hermione…Hermione would understand, wouldn't she?

"Ron," Harry said quickly, turning to his best friend as they made their way to the Great Hall, "Do you have a date for the dance?"

Ron gave him a look. "Of course. Otherwise I was going to take Hermione but you took her instead even though you knew why I wanted to take her!" Ron said in one breath.

"I thought you were over her," Harry said sheepishly.

Ron scoffed. "I'm trying, I'm trying." Harry got the notion that he wanted to say something else but was thoroughly distracted by the smells wafting out of the Great Hall.

* * * * * *

Hermione's thoughts were on the dance as she studied. She closed her book with a sigh, giving up on it. Just a few minutes ago, Harry had asked her if she'd found a date to the dance.

"Harry, I'm going with you, remember?" she had said slowly, as realization dawned on her.

"Well, you…wouldn't mind…terribly if I found someone that I really wanted…no, don't take that the wrong way…I fancy you a lot as a friend but I kind of wanted to ask…" he had trailed off, looking nervous.

She knew perfectly well who he wanted to ask, and with resignation had said, "Go ahead Harry. It's perfectly all right. I understand."

Harry had smiled gratefully and scuttled off. Now, Hermione was in the library thinking about her recent conversation.

She buried her face in her hands. He's so right, she thought contemptuously. As much as she hated to admit it, Malf—oh, well, she might as well call him Draco, had hit the nail on the head with this one. Harry was infatuated with that bloody little Pansy!

"Something bothering you, Granger?" A low-pitched drawl echoed in her section of the library.

She looked up to see Draco grinning—no, smirking—down at her. "First off, you asked me to call you Draco. So you better call me Hermione. And you know perfectly well what's bothering me," she said, annoyed.

"Actually, no I don't. Unless your still hung up on the Potty likes Parkinson thing."

Hermione smiled. For once, she knew something Mal—Draco didn't! "Well, actually…Harry just told me that he'd rather take Pansy to the dance instead of me."

Malfoy laughed. "So how does rejection feel?" he asked. "I wouldn't know. Nobody's ever rejected me before."

Hermione glared at him. "He didn't reject me," she said patiently, as if explaining to a young child. "We're only friends and he said he really wanted to go with someone that he fancied as more than a friend."

"Are you planning on showing face at the dance then?"

"If you didn't hear, it's bloody mandatory! How could Dumbledore do that?"

Malfoy (she had given up trying to think of him as 'Draco') smirked. "I always said he deserved a spot in the loony bin, but does anyone ever listen to me?"

Hermione shut her book with a snap. "Draco, why are you here?" she said, eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Don't break your broomsticks, Hermione," Malfoy said coolly. "I happen to think that the dance is the perfect opportunity to break them up for good."

Hermione softened her glare. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. "Okay, tell me."

"Hold on. I'm committing this to memory. The time Hermione  talked to me civilly."

"Stop being such a prick! Just tell me already or I won't help you with your bloody plan!"

"You'll help me no matter what," he said seriously. "You're the kind of person that cares about other people, you know, and you wouldn't want to see Potter get hurt, right?"

Hermione was a little surprised that Malfoy would have enough perception to realize the basic concept. "Well, yes."

"Good. Now Pansy will snog anyone who's got lips and doesn't have a tail, all right?"

Hermione stared at him, open-mouthed. Did he mean… "I am not snogging Pansy, you moron!" she shrieked.

Malfoy snickered. "Relax, no, that's not what my plan was, although it would make a nice scene…" he quickly trailed off when he noticed Hermione raising her hand in striking motion. It was Hermione's turn to smirk. He was probably remembering a dark time in his life, the time she'd slapped him…

"Well then who's Pansy supposed to snog?"

"Weasley."

"Draco, seriously, you call this a plan? Ron wouldn't snog Pansy if she was the last girl on earth and it's not like Pansy would agree either, plus wouldn't Harry be mad?"

"The last part's the point, you idiot."

"Oh," Hermione said in a small voice. "But still, how's it going to work…"

"If you'd only let me explain without interrupting! Gods, how can teachers stand you?"

Hermione did not say anything. She wasn't about to interrupt him, now, was she?

He scowled. "I hate you."

"I hate you too. But if we're going to work on this stupid thing together then we might as well get it done with."

"All right then. The plan's really quite simple. You know that the dance is being held in the Great Hall, right?"

She nodded and motioned for him to continue.

"Well there's this broom closet in the left corner where a lot of people go to, you know…"

"Actually, no, I don't. But I'm listening," she said impatiently.

"Figures you wouldn't."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she yelled back at him. How dare he imply…okay, even if she hadn't really snogged anyone before, but he had no right to say that!

"You know what it means, Hermione. Anyhow, where was I? Oh yes. Snogging. Well, you, being Potty's bes—"

"Can you please not call him 'Potty'? It's really distracting," Hermione said, annoyed.

"Will you just bloody let me get through this! Honestly!"

"I'm trying!" she replied, crabbily. "But you're just being such an arse about it…"

"Now I'm the one being an arse?! Well at least I don't look like one, unlike a certain someone sitt—"

But Hermione never let him finish his thought. Before he knew what had happened, he was under the influence of a personal favorite of Hermione—Jelly Legs curse. "Now you listen to me, Malfoy," she warned dangerously. "I am working with you for the well-being of my friend Harry. If you dare insult me one more time with another inane comment, I will hex you to hell and back! Do you understand that?"

He nodded weakly.

"And what do you say?" she demanded, tapping her foot on the cold tile of the library.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"And?"

"It won't happen again."

"It better not happen again, or you are going to be in the worst fucking predicament of your life. I say truce—I'm not going to insult your slimy little git-arse and you won't insult me. Until this stupid thing is over."

He nodded. "I'll try. But since you got one last insult, can I get one too?"

She rolled her eyes, but nodded.

"You have terrible breath."

* * * * * * *

Draco smirked as he watched her mouth open and close furiously. Her breath was fine, he supposed, but it didn't hurt to have her worry about it. Instinctively, she moved a couple of inches away from him.

"Anyhow," he said amiably. "Where were we? Oh yes, my plan, before I was rudely interrupt—"

"You were not. You deserved it." She was staring at him furiously. He wanted to laugh. Annoying her was so much fun!

"See, there you go again! We've wasted twenty minutes and I haven't even told you the bloody plan!"

"Ok. I'm listening. And I won't interrupt."

"Good girl," he said appreciatively. When she was quiet, she looked beautiful—although, ironically, she wasn't really beautiful. He didn't understand why he found her so bloody hot. "All right. So, you, being a good friend of Potter, see, notice, I didn't call him Potty, are going to tell Parkinson that he's waiting for her in that closet. She'll believe you because you talked to her the other day, and you're good friends with Potter. So she'll go there."

"Okay. How are you planning on getting Ron there?"

"Well, to put it simply, you're going to tell him to meet you there." He grinned devilishly. The Weasel's massive fancy was quite obvious to everyone.

To his surprise, Hermione grimaced. "Ugh. I don't want to even think about that."

A little unnerved, Draco asked cautiously. "Don't you know he fancies you?"

Hermione's eyes grew wide. "He does?" she asked meekly.

Uh-oh, Draco thought. Shit. "Um…no, of course not. But tell him that anyway. He'll probably think you arranged some hot hook-up for him. And that closet is really dark, and Pansy'll snog him thinking it's Potter and Weasley will snog her thinking it's you, I mean, some hot hook-up, and then you're going to tell Potter that Pansy's waiting for him and he'll open it and see Weasley and Parkinson and…" he trailed off, embarrassed and annoyed at himself for letting that slip.

"He fancies me," Hermione said dully.

"You didn't hear a word I said, did you," he asked more to himself than to her.

"I did," she said absentmindedly. "How do you know he fancies me?"

He sighed. "I'm just naturally perceptive in these matters," he said lightly.

"Do a lot of people know?"

"Oh, no" he lied. "Nobody's got the bloody brains to figure it out," he continued, as if it was all a joke.

"Could you stop joking for once?" she snapped irritably. "This is bad. This is so bad."

"Why?" he asked, although he thought the same thing. Granger didn't really go well with Weasley. Yes, that was it. They would make a godawful couple.

"Well…it explains a lot and…oh, you wouldn't understand. Nice plan, Draco. I'll see you later."

Before he could say anything, she had left the library. He noticed she had left some papers behind on accident. Curiously, he leafed through them. Homework, homework, extra credit, homework, and…what was this? The handwriting, he realized, was his own. It was a note he'd given her once, he recalled, last year, when he had to meet her somewhere or the other for Prefect duties and couldn't find her. But why was she still keeping it?

A/N: I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get an update out! I've been really busy and stuff, though! A huge thanks to reviewers. Just something I need to clear up:

ThisDamnedAngel: Thanks, I knew sexy wasn't used often in British language (I have an aunt that's from Britain) but it slipped my mind until I had too many chapters to really do anything about it. It's a huge mistake, I know, but I hope it doesn't impact the story too much. Oh and yes I have read "I hate everything about you" by Ceres Vesta. Awesome story it is, too. Once again, I really appreciated your reviews!

I love all of you for reviewing. Yes, last chapter- Draco was incredibly impressed. Next chapter's going to be the dance (at last…). I'll try to get it out sooner, I've got a break right now so I can write! Reviews for this chapter would be massively appreciated. Thanks!