AN Ok, I'm sorry if this is not on the same wavelength as the other chapters, but I've been concentrating on my new darkfic, so I sort of lost touch with this one for a while. Bear with me while I try to get a feel for it again. But it's chapter ten! That has to be some sort of milestone!

Last Time on TDQ

Hermione sighed and scrawled 'Draco Malfoy' across her parchment idly before putting her head down on her desk and sighing deeply.

Unbeknownst to her, Ronald Weasley looked on with a mixture of concern and amusement.

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Later that night.

Harry and Ron walked into the Great Hall, Hermione straggling behind them. Ron kept looking back at her to make sure she was all right. Hermione had been dragging her feet and procrastinating ever since they had left the Gryffindor tower for supper.

"Harry, you go on ahead, I think Dean and Seamus want to talk to you." Ron said quietly, discreetly signaling that he wanted to talk to Hermione alone. Harry looked around doubtfully.

"But Ron, I don't even think Dean and Seamus are here yet…" He said, bewildered. Ron rolled his eyes and nodded toward Hermione, eyes wide with frustration. Harry scratched his head.

"You want to talk to Hermione alone? Why? I didn't know you liked her like THAT…"

"I DON'T like her like that you silly thing! I just want to talk to her, ok?" Harry nodded suspiciously, then ran ahead. Ron waited until Hermione caught up with him, and then fell into step beside her.

"Where's Harry gone off to?" Hermione asked dully.

"I dunno. To talk to Dean and Seamus, I think. But Hermione, are you feeling well?"

"Yeah! What would make you think I'm not?" Asked Hermione a bit too quickly.

"Nothing, I'm just asking is all. No need to get upset. You just seem a little distracted. Could it have anything to do with… boys?" Ron asked, smiling slyly. Hermione's eyes darted nervously around the sparsely populated corridor.

"Of course not Ron… don't be silly. I'm just worrying… about a… test… or something like that…" She said distractedly. Ron's overly active eyes rolled again.

"Hermione, don't pretend, you aren't good at it at all. I know you think you do a splendid job of keeping everybody in the dark, but I'm not as stupid as you seem to think." Hermione started to protest, but Ron kept talking. "Harry is brave, even bright when it comes to Quidditch. But he doesn't pay much attention to people, doesn't notice things unless they're pointed out to him. It's not that he doesn't care, he's just a bit self-absorbed, in a good way. The rest of the school is busy with their own friends and matters. But I'm your best friend. I notice things. I know you're attentions aren't so oriented on books and learning as they used to be, I know that you've noticed that there is another sex on the planet, I know that you like to wear girly things and look pretty, I know that you fancied Neville last year, God help you, I know that you got over him eons ago, and I'm pretty sure that you think you could possibly-maybe in a strange sort of way fancy Draco Malfoy." Ron finished with flourish, smiling widely. Hermione was frozen to the spot, staring up at him with a half-shocked, half-woeful expression on her face.

"You know too much, Ron." She said, sighing. "When'd you get to be perceptive?" She asked, walking on and looking at the floor.

"I don't know. Maybe I've always been like it…" Hermione raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Well, maybe not always, but for a year or two. Since I realized that I have to keep an eye on you and Harry. You're my best friends, and nobody else is around who cares to watch the two of you full-time. Except maybe a certain someone named Draco…" Ron said, directing the conversation away from himself. Hermione blushed but managed a joke.

"Actually, I don't think Draco Malfoy keeps too close a watchful eye on Harry…"

"Good point. But, I've noticed that he's been half-decent lately…"

"Yeah, he has been really nice! Just today in fact, he…" Hermione trailed off, realizing that she was unreasonably excited. Ron chuckled.

"You fancy Draco Malfoy." He stated with the air of a doctor proclaiming full health.

"Do not!" Hermione said indignantly.

"Oh you do too!"

"I do NOT!" Hermione said, beginning to get cross.

"Look, we've reached the Great Hall! Finally, I'm starved." Said Ron. Hermione went from cross to apprehensive in a split second.

"Oh no! Why'd you make me walk so fast? Ro-on… I think I'm sick, I don't really need any supper, and I should just go to bed…" She said, looking around at anything but the great doors of the Great Hall.

"Oh, is ickle Hermione afraid to be in the same room as Draco?" Ron asked in a pitying baby voice. Hermione cringed.

"No, that's not it. It's just that…" Hermione looked up to find that Ron had dragged her into the Hall while she had been talking. No turning back now. She kept her head down as she walked towards her table, trying to hide behind Ron's tall form. They sat down next to Harry and Neville and Hermione cautiously looked around.

"See, that wasn't so bad, Hermi!" Ron said.

"I hate that nickname." Said Hermione absently, staring at her mashed potatoes. Neville and Ron exchanged glances over Harry's head, which was bent over his plate as he shoveled peas into his mouth. Harry Potter loved peas. Hermione noticed nothing as she drifted in the land of daydream. She let out a wistful sigh and without thinking, did the exact thing she had spent the whole day telling herself not to do… she looked up and her eyes fell on a pale blonde head adorned with floppy bunny ears that was bobbing around as it joked with Pansy and Blaise. 'Draco looks like he's having a laugh' thought Hermione dismally, almost disappointed that he wasn't miserable. Blaise was chuckling and Pansy was choking with uproarious laughter at Draco, who was smiling angelically as he talked and made wide gestures with his hands. Completely of it's own accord, her mouth began to form a wide smile at his antics. She giggled as she watched the unusually boisterous Slytherins. Draco was so…

A large spoonful of peas was shoved into her mouth and Hermione looked up at Harry, who had his head tilted sideways inquisitively. He looked like a cute little puppy dog. Ron had probably prodded him into noticing she was alive, but still, Hermione was touched by his concern. He really was sweet.

"You need to eat Hermi." He looked her over doubtfully. Neville cringed at the nickname and all three of the boys watched her concernedly/amusedly. "You look thin. You need to put on some weight like…" Harry looked around the table for a candidate. "Like Parvati and Lavender." He finished, nodding and squinting at her through his glasses. Poor unsuspecting Harry. Unfortunately for him, Parvati and Lavender were only a few seats away. They stood as one and stalked toward him.

"Did you just say we were fat, Harry?" Parvati asked through gritted teeth. Harry looked slowly up at them.

"No, I just meant, you were bigger than…" Harry didn't get to finish.

"You think we're big?" Lavender asked, horrified.

"NO! No no. I just mean, you're a healthy size!" Harry said, nodding slowly to make sure they understood.

"Oh! So what you were saying was that Hermione wasn't a healthy size, then?" Parvati asked, coming to Hermione's defense. Hermione looked properly offended, though she, for some unfathomable reason, winked at Ron. Harry looked hastily over at Hermione.

"No, I just though she would look better if…" Harry swallowed. "She should eat more… she might be even prettier than she already is if… because… you know… she's fine as she is!" Harry finished, defeated. Lavender patted his head.

"That's a good boy, Harry." She said, nodding approvingly then walking off after Parvati. Hermione, Ron and Neville burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Asked Harry irritably, his ears turning red.

"Nothing, Harry dear!" Hermione said, heaving a long-suffering sigh before she laughed again and went back to eating her meal.

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Draco finished his story and turned to his meal, smiling at how Pansy was still holding her side and gasping for breath.

"You're such a funny guy, Drakie!" She said, leaning back on Blaise and shaking her head at him. "And you're allover great…" Pansy put a thoughtful finger to her chin. "I wonder why you haven't got a girlfriend… how's your love life going, Drakie?" She asked, a mischievous glint in her eyes. Draco cringed. *Smug dating couples.

"It's not." He said smartly. Pansy rolled her eyes and Blaise smirked knowingly.

"What about that nice girl in Ravenclaw?" Pansy asked slyly. Draco made a face. "Cho Chang? What about Padma Patil? Or Lenora Getsford? Holly Bettinson? Julia Bertram?" Draco made faces and gagging noises through all these names, though they were all pretty girls…

"The only girl in this school I'd ever date is Hermione Gra…" Draco mumbled, then trailed off as he paled and realized what he'd just said aloud. He looked up; hoping that Pansy wasn't as attentive as he knew her to be from years of friendship. She was smiling at him delightedly. The little bugger had known all along…

"Oh, I see. You fancy Hermione Granger…" Pansy said, clapping her hands and squealing with happiness. Blaise was looking quite smug. The rest of Slytherin hadn't noticed what the 'outcasts', or non-Voldemort followers, were talking about. 'Probably worshipping Dumbledore' they thought disdainfully, as one, because the rest of Slytherin seldom had individual thoughts. Draco looked very angry.

"You knew, you little schemer! You baited me, you knew I'd get exasperated and… PANSY!" He said hotly. Pansy giggled and Blaise laughed aloud.

"Oh hush Draco! It's not Pansy's fault. You really must learn to hold your loose tongue." Blaise said sensibly, an eyebrow raised lazily as he challenged Draco to challenge his opinion of Draco's tongue. Draco grumbled.

"Well, it's not like I LIKE her anyway. It's just that she's the only one even NEAR worthy of me…"

"Don't pretend that you still care about blood and think of non-Slytherins as 'beneath' you, Draco. You haven't said anything like that in years. The only reason you said it in the first place was because of Lecial and his tor…" Pansy started, but was halted by Draco's venomous glare.

"Do NOT mention that man in my presence Pansy. You know I cannot bear to think of him. If it wasn't for him…" Draco said, banging the table furiously. Blaise put a hand on his shoulder, which he jerked off, standing up and knocking his chair over. He turned and righted it carefully, his face carefully blank. Then he stormed out of the hall, his strides measured and his hands clenched into tight fists at his sides. Pansy looked at Blaise worriedly. But he smiled balefully, shook his head and pulled her closer. They sighed together as they watched their friend's tensed shoulders and bent head disappear behind the slamming doors of the Great Hall.

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Hermione watched Draco walk out the door. 'Wonder what's wrong with him?' she thought. 'Maybe he's upset about the bunny ears… I should go and talk to him…' Hermione stood up resolutely, and followed him out the doors, barely noticed in the wake of Draco's storm. Barely, that is. Only 3 people smiled to themselves as they watched her follow the ever-indignant Malfoy boy…

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AN: I am so smart! I am so smart! I actually figured out how to use italics and bold and all that! I so rock! * I stole that idea from Bridget Jones and her 'smug married couples'. The Bridget Jones movie but especially books are really funny. There's another quote I think I might use from the movie… hee hee.

Spanks-I-mean-Thanks to Reviewers: *giggles at childish joke*

Mediterranean Queen- sorry can't think of anything witty to say. 'awwww!!!' Back at ya!

Nic Nic Nicolasa- I know exactly what you mean! I always crack up laughing when I'm reading. My parents, friends and schoolmates all think I'm crackers. I just laugh easily. At one of my old schools, there was this certain door, and whenever I walked through it, I'd burst out laughing. *Shakes head* I don't know what's wrong with me!

G*Ness- We have so much in common! You're boy crazy too? I love and adore your reviews! I am finally getting back to this fic, please stick with me!

Evenstar- guess you aren't very impressed anymore! It's been like, a month, since I last updated. "When she was good she was very very good, but when she was bad she was wicked…" THAT is the story of my life, people. But still, I've been bloody furious with my darkfic lately, you wouldn't believe how far I've been getting with that baby. I'm just taking a little break from it now, so I'll try and do more of this.