Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or any of its' characters, names, or settings.

Chapter 14- An Awkward Confrontation

Thanks for the reviews. . .

firehottie, gaiamoore13, Jordyn, InsanitySquirrel321, Emma Knight, Stacy, # 1 hpfan 0173, hothunnies16. And. . .

Chach-A-Lot: Lmao. . . so I'm chocolate now, am I? Man. . . what goes on in YOUR head? LoL! You have no idea how much I hate school. One question though. . . how the hell does my story melt in your mouth? You're a very funny person. Lol, I wonder what you would say to me if I ever met you. . .

gazy: Thanks again for your review. . . and I told you that you just had to be patient with the reviews that you get. See. . . now you have so many. Did you take my suggestions? Lol. . . since you always tell everyone to read my story, here goes: EVERYONE MUST READ GAZY'S STORY CALLED FEELINGS!

GEmory: Lol. . . you were the one person I was certain that would fall for it, cuz you kept sending me reviews asking questions about it, and saying that you were totally confused by the Order thing. But, now that that's out of the way and taken care of, don't you admit that it makes life SO much easier that that part's not in the story? If it were, it would be all too tense and out of topic from the whole dmhg storyline. Lol. . . EVEN I fell for it, but then later on, I thought, "I haffta remove that part from the story and make it seem like Ron and Harry just lied, cuz now that I think about it, it truly doesn't make sense for them being in the Order. It's too unrealistic." Yah. . . you sound really cool, but by your name, I can't tell if you're a guy or a girl. What does GEmory even mean?

Sparcle girl: Pssssttt. . . how did you know? I am not gonna reveal much here, since I actually do have my whole story planned out, but me and you seriously think alike. All I'm gonna say that it is along that line. But thanks a lot for your review and suggestion, cuz I wasn't certain if I wanted to put that into my story, but you made me see that people would actually like it. . . so thanks!

gazy: OMG! gazy. . . I swear, if you don't quit it, I'll never talk to you again. Who cares if I have a little more reviews than you do! (did you actually count all of them up?) It doesn't matter anyways, cuz you already know your story is really really good, so who cares. But, what did you mean about untricked? I thought about it, and I've decided to not have anyone be my editor, cuz it'll be too long of a process and you and all of my other reviewers will get all impatient if I don't update fast enough. I hope you don't mind.

GEmory: WTF! K, now. . . I just don't know who the REAL GEmory is, cuz you both sound different, and how am I supposed to know that your signed in GEmory is actually the real GEmory? Jeez! Now I'm all confused. People need to be honest, and yes. . . I did get my period. But, I got no clue of your age, or if you're a guy or a girl, so please tell me what GEmory even means.

IF ANYONE HAS ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT MY STORY (EVEN IF IT'S ABOUT THE TINIEST, TINIEST DETAILS), SEND ME A REVIEW ABOUT IT. I WOULD BE HAPPY TO ANSWER THEM IN THE NEXT CHAPTERS THAT I POST UP!


As soon as Hermione stepped her right foot forward into the arithmancy room, the school bell sounded, ringing and echoing through the long wide corridors behind her.

"Nice to see that you are on time, Ms. Granger," Professor Viktor's voice startled her, as Hermione looked up to see the short woman standing in front of the room facing her. Although Professor Viktor was quite short and small, she gave out an air of authority and power. She wore horn-rimmed spectacles, and she had black hair that fell down to her shoulders.

"Please sit down," she told her.

'Augh!' Hermione groaned inside, as she felt her face grow hot. She looked around to all of the students that were staring at her, as she walked across the room and sat down on the only empty seat left.

'That's already twice today that I have nearly been late,' Hermione thought to herself.

By now, everyone had turned back to the front, and Hermione finally noticed that the desks in the room were arranged in groups of fours. She looked at her own group and she realized that she was the only Gryfinndor out of the four. She was sitting across from Michael Corner and beside him sat Terry Boot. Hermione, turning to her right, was not surprised to find Anthony sitting beside her.

'Those three are always together,' she thought to herself. Anthony turned around and flashed her a huge grin. 'And I guess there's going to be a lot of flirting in this class also.'

"Now that we are all settled down, I'd like to welcome you all back to Hogwarts for your 6th year," Professor Viktor spoke to the attentive class. "As you can see, I have arranged the desks in this room so they are in groups of four. I have done this, because this year's assignments will require a lot of group work, and I also think it's always best for students to interact and work together during class.

Now, this year is going to be a very serious year for you, and you are going to have to work extremely hard to try to scrape up good enough marks, for you will have to take the hardest and most important test next year. Your N.E.W.T.S will be so important as to count toward your careers, and your future lives ahead of you, so please take everything very seriously.

Now, I would like all of you to take out your workbooks, and please turn to page 3. With your group mates, go through the questions, and together; answer all of the questions on that page. Make sure to show all of your calculations and work with your answers. You may begin now."

Professor Viktor then turned on her high heel shoes, and she walked over to her desk, before plopping herself down on to her chair. Hermione watched her take out a pen and start writing down something on a piece of parchment. She turned her head away from the professor, and she looked ahead past Michael Corner and out the window to the outside world. She felt extremely happy that she was finally back at the arithmancy room.

'So glad I'm not in Divinition right now,' she thought to herself giggling. 'I can actually picture them all sitting around Professor Trawleney, struggling to stay awake in that warm stuffy room.'

Anthony, who heard Hermione giggle, and was trying extremely hard to start a conversation with her, asked, "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing," she replied, shaking her head and turning over to the work in front of her. "Shall we get started now?"

"Uh huh," Terry nodded, and for the next 20 minutes, all four of them bent their heads down, as they worked hard in calculating the challenging arithmancy problems. They worked their way through 21 questions, and before they knew it, they had completed all of them.

"Well. . . we're finally done," Michael said, as he put his pencil down and stretched his arms.

"I guess we have about 10 free extra minutes," Hermione said, checking her watch.

"I guess we might as well just talk," Anthony said eagerly, as he turned to her. "I bet we are going to have a lot of free time in this class, since we have you in our group and you're pretty smart."

Hermione almost burst out laughing, but she controlled herself at the last moment. Instead, a faint blush tinted her fair skin to a rose color. She could hear Terry and Michael snickering as she thought to herself embarrassed, 'Oh God! How lame! Is he going to be trying to flirt with me the whole time I'm here in Hogwarts?'

"Um. . . thanks Anthony," she replied weakly. "But you know. . . you guys are all Ravenclaws, so I'm not the only smart one."

"So. . ." Anthony started, as he racked his brain for something to say to her. "Have you gone out with anyone yet?"

"Um. . . do you mean in a long time relationship?" she asked him. When he nodded, she replied, "Yes I have. . . with Viktor Krum for about a year. It was from when he first came to Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament, to until the middle of last year."

As she said this, the three Ravenclaws stared at her with their mouths wide open. Anthony, who not only looked shocked, but he also looked disappointed and defeated as well.

"What was it like?" Michael asked excitedly.

"E-excuse me?" she replied sounding shocked.

"I mean, was it more FUN going out with Krum then any other ordinary guy?" he asked, before any of his friends could stop him.

"I'm sorry," she replied angrily, as she could feel her fury building up inside of her. "I'd prefer not to talk about it."

But, before she could even think, she blurted out, "Was it FUN cheating on Ginny last year?"

The atmosphere in that table suddenly grew tense as Anthony and Terry's eyes followed from Hermione, to Michael, back and forth.

'Why did I have to say that?'" Hermione asked herself, feeling slightly guilty. She was watching Michael grow pale and shocked at her outburst. 'And why did I even stick up for that snob, Ginny?'

Before any of them could say anything more, the bell rang, putting an end to the second period. Michael quickly grabbed his bag and bolted out of the room, closely followed by Terry. Anthony turned to Hermione and he gave her an apologetic look, before slowly getting up from his seat, and strolling out of the room.

Hermione just shook her head in disbelief as she reached out for her own bag.


The honey eyed 16-year old let out a soft sigh, as she threw her backpack on top of her elegant king-sized bed. She watched the heavy weight of her bag slightly sink into the soft silk bed sheets and comforters. Hermione looked at it in yearning, for she had the strong desire to just jump into bed and sleep for the whole day, but she knew she still had a lot of things to do before the day was over.

'Cannot believe that I'm so tired already,' she thought to herself yawning and stretching her arms. She felt slightly overwhelmed. 'It kind of feels like so many things have already happened today, but today was only the first day of school. I better get a grip on myself and just work hard this year. I have to actually take school seriously for once. And, now is the chance, since I don't have Harry or Ron holding me down anymore.'

She shook her head as she thought about how she could've done so much better in the past 5 years, if she hadn't been too wrapped up in taking so much responsibility in helping out Ron and Harry in their work.

'Well, I better hurry up to the owlery before Luna and Neville get here,' she reminded herself, as she suddenly felt a pang of homesickness. 'Gosh. . . what's wrong with me! I mean, it's been only one day.'

Hermione shook her head, and she quickly tied up her soft hair in a high ponytail. She grabbed a quill and parchment from her desk and she walked out of her room. As soon as she walked out through her bedroom door and looked up at the glass roof and the delicate chandelier hanging from the ceiling, she sighed happily.

'I guess all my hard work did pay off,' she thought. She still felt extremely overwhelmed as she peered over the banisters to the second floor below. 'So glad to be Head Girl. But, I still need to keep up my work'

Hermione then turned around, and she walked down the long stairs, which made her brown ponytail hop up and down. When she jumped down from the bottom step and she looked up to see who was currently in the common room, she wasn't surprised to see Ron and Padma sitting together in a love seat nearby.

"Gross!" Hermione shuddered, feeling herself groaning inwardly. She felt disgusted. She marched right past them and sat down on the rug with the mahogany coffee table sitting right in front of her. Placing the parchment and inkbottle in front of her, she started to write a letter to her parents, and another one just for Sharon.

Shortly after starting the letters, the sudden sound of slurping broke through Hermione's deep thinking. Looking up, she gaped at the sight of Ron and Padma now making out on the loveseat couch. A strong desire overcame her to get up and slap both of them hard across the face, but instead, Hermione just turned back to her writing.

"Excellent!" she thought dryly. "Now all I need is for them to try extremely hard to make me jealous as they make out in the same room that I'm in."

Mustering up all of her strength, she picked her quill up again, and she continued to write from where she had left off. The more and more she wrote in concentration, the sounds of Ron and Padma making out, started to drift away from her.

It was about after 20 minutes from when she had first started to write the letters, when Hermione found herself finished. As she put down her quill, and lifted herself up from off the floor, she slid the folded letters into the envelopes.

As she headed towards the pit of stairs that led to the map door below, she passed Padma and Ron. Although they were still making out on the couch, their 'speed' and 'enthusiasm' had reduced.

'Ew,' Hermione snorted. 'What losers! It seems like they're only just doing that to make me jealous. I guess they're not as enthusiastic about it now, seeing that I don't care and I didn't pay much attention to them. Seriously. . . don't they have anything better else to do?'

When the map door opened up, it revealed Luna and Neville standing outside of it, both looking impatient.

Hermione, who felt surprised at seeing them so early, greeted, "Hey you guys! What are you doing here so early?"

"Well, you were taking too long in meeting us in the library, so we decided to just meet you here," Luna explained, and all three of them made their way down the empty corridors.

"Yah, sorry about that," apologized Hermione. "I was writing letters to my parents and Sharon, and I must've lost track of the time. Before I show you the Heads Quarter, can we please go to the owlery to send my letters, and then I need to drop off at the library to pick up the potions book that I need for the assignment."

"Sure," Neville agreed nodding. "But 'Mione, isn't the assignment due this Friday?"

"Yah, but I just want all the time I can get to work on it," she replied. Hermione, however, didn't notice the amused looks that were exchanged by Luna and Neville, as they struggled to keep a straight face.

"You sure have changed in looks," Luna commented. "But, you still have the exact same personality as before."

"Is that a problem?" Hermione questioned smugly, as she turned to them with her eyebrows raised.

"No, no," Neville quickly said, raising up his small pudgy hands in defense. "No problem. We're just relieved that this whole thing with you and Ron and Harry hasn't changed your personality to all bitchy."

Hermione, looking bewildered, confused and offended all at the same time, stated in a monotone voice, "And I'm expected to be bitchy, because. . . "

By now, they were approaching the owlery. As they started to climb up the stairs that led to the door ahead, Luna quickly explained timidly, "Well, to be honest, if we were in your shoes, we would've been in a bad mood all the time, considering how awful they are treating you."

This surprised Hermione, as she looked up at Neville and Luna.

"Yah," agreed Neville nodding. He pushed in the door, and held it open for Luna and Hermione for them to walk by.

"Such a gentlemen," commented Luna, giggling.

"We are actually amazed at your maturity on this whole situation," he continued. "We would've both been extremely angry, but the way you are handling things is pretty impressive."

"Yah," Luna added. "I don't even see how you can stay this long with giving Ron and Harry the silent treatment without belting out at them."

'Oh God,' Hermione found herself thinking sadly. She was now tying up her letter to Alfred's claw, as she watched him fly away through the sun setting sky.

'How could I be so selfish?' she quietly asked herself, feeling thoroughly ashamed. 'How could I not see that they were always concerned for me, and that they aren't like either Harry or Ron. They actually care about me, but I just simply refused to tell them any of the stuff that's been going on. They must've been dying of curiosity, but even though they didn't know about our issues, they still supported me.'

"'Mione?" Neville quietly asked, as he looked closer at her face. Hermione was still trying to avoid eye contact with them, but when she finally replied, she looked up.

"You don't know how sorry I am you guys, for not telling you any of the stuff that's been happening. I feel so bad. You guys have the right to know about what's going on."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Luna reassured. "You weren't ready to tell us, so it's no big deal. We kind of figured out some of the stuff that happened. It's okay and don't worry about not telling us."

"I know that," Hermione put in, shaking her head. "But, you guys are my closest friends, and I kept this from you, and you guys really do need to know. I just feel really bad for keeping it all from you."

"Yo, 'Mione," Luna said sternly. "It's no big deal. If it makes you feel better, you can tell us when we get to the Head's Quarter. Let's head over to the library now to pick up your potions book, and then show us your dormitory."

"Thanks you guys," Hermione said gratefully, as she flashed the both of them a warm smile. "Really appreciate your help."

"No problem," Neville said, shaking his head. "That's what friend's are for."


"Cottage Cheese," Hermione said to the map door in front of her.

As it ripped down the middle and opened up, the two girls both heard Neville mutter to himself, "Who would've thought that a map of Argyllshire would end up being the entrance to a whole tower."

He and Luna followed Hermione up the stone steps to the landing above. As soon as they stepped off of the stairs, Hermione felt Neville gasp beside her.

"Wow," Luna said, with her old dreamy voice that Hermione recognized so well. She was staring up at the ceiling above, while Neville was taking in all of the surroundings around him.

"Too bad I'm not a Head Boy or a prefect," he said wistfully.

"Yah well. . . being a Head Girl is not always the best thing," Hermione stated, as she felt her face growing red. "There's A LOT of responsibilities, duties, and things to organize. I'm going to have to work really hard this year, because I also have homework on top of that."

"Always so modest," Luna sighed dreamily, as she still observed the glass and marble ceiling above.

Hermione, who just shook her head, suggested, "Why don't we go up to my bedroom? We can chat and do our homework up there."

"Uh huh," Neville said in a faraway voice, not really paying attention, as he still observed his surroundings. He and Luna followed Hermione up the grand staircases up to the first floor. They were even still astonished at the sight of her bedroom when they entered into it.

"Oh my gosh!" exclaimed Neville in disbelief. "You get to stay here?"

Hermione felt herself turn pink as she nodded. "Hey you guys, let's get to work now. I have a lot of homework due."

"Sure," agreed Luna, when she finally focused on Hermione.

All three of them grabbed their backpacks, and they sat on the floor, spreading out all of their stuff.

"Do you think now you can tell us about what's going on?" asked Luna, in a concerned tone of voice, as she turned to Hermione.

"Sure," she replied nodding. When she turned to Neville, to find him smiling, she asked, "What's so funny?"

"Hey 'Mione," Neville said, sounding very amused. "I just realized that your initials are H.G., which also stands for Head Girl. I guess it was just meant to be."

"Ha ha," Hermione snorted sarcastically. "Very funny."

"I thought so," he replied, before bending down to work on his dream diary for Divination.


"Bye you guys!" Hermione called, as she waved goodbye to the retreating backs of Luna and Neville. She was standing outside the map door of Argyllshire, and Luna and Neville were leaving to go back to their own common rooms.

'So glad I told them everything,' she thought to herself, letting out a deep sigh. 'I actually feel a whole lot better that they know, and I don't have to go through this all alone. I can't believe it's taken me this long to realize that they're such good friends. . . a whole let better than Harry and Ron ever were.'

Hermione shook her head, before turning around to face the map door.

"Cottage Cheese," she quietly muttered, and the map door flung open. She jogged up the stone steps, and into the Head Quarter's common room, to find that everything was silent.

'Hmm. . . ' Hermione thought curiously to herself. 'Wonder where everyone is.'

As she walked over to the nearest couch, she glanced down at her watch, to discover that it was quiet late.

'Wow,' she shook her head in amazement. 'We must've been studying and talking for quite some time.'

As Hermione sat down, she nearly jumped with surprise to find that she was not the only one in the common room, and a figure was sprawled upon the couch across from her, reading a potions book.

It was Draco Malfoy.

He glanced at her from over the top of his book, and when he saw who it was, he pulled himself up to a sitting position. After quickly glancing at Hermione, he looked back down at his book, and continued to read from where he left off.

Hermione, who felt an awkward silence creep up upon them, felt uncomfortable and unsure of what to do. She shifted nervously on the couch.

"Am I making you uncomfortable?" Draco asked her in a tormenting tone of voice. His voice surprised her, for he didn't even look up from the book that he was reading.

"No," Hermione replied heatedly. "Why should I feel uncomfortable because of you?"

When there was no response to her question, she just shook her head, and let herself fall back on the couch. Taking out her book, she opened it up to the page where she had left off, and started to read. Hermione was just starting to feel comfortable and in ease, when Draco's voice suddenly cut the heavy silence that hovered over them.

"How come you are not speaking to Weasley or Potter?" he asked her curiously, again without looking up from his book.

Hermione was surprised and astonished to find that sudden anger bubbled inside of her.

'Who the hell does he think he is, asking me that personal question!' she thought to herself furiously. 'How can he just ask me that question, as if we were old friends? I bet he just wants to torment me.'

"You don't ask me that question, and I won't ask you why you've changed so much," she said with her voice hard.

"I'm not the only one who has changed," Draco whispered, finally looking up. He stated this so quietly, that Hermione could barely hear him.

There was an expressionless look set upon his face, and before she could think, she heard herself blurt out, "Yah. . . well, how come you are getting to be like your father more and more as the days pass by?"

As soon as she let this slip out, Hermione knew that she had said the wrong thing, and that she had gone too far.

She watched in astonishment as Draco's fiery, violent, deep gray eyes flared with anger. In a tight voice, he replied, "How dare you ask me that question, when you don't even know who I am or what I live for!"

Before she could say another word, Draco got up from the couch angrily, before storming up the stairs and into his bedroom. Hermione flinched at the sound of his door slamming shut, as it echoed through the tower.

A sudden desire to comfort him flowed through Hermione's blood, as she stared up at his bedroom door. But. . . an even stronger desire to discover more about Draco overtook her.


Author's Note: So sorry about not updating any sooner. I wanted to work hard on this one chapter, and to add a lot more detail into it.