Disclaimer: All things Harry Potterish belong to JKR.

Author's Note: Sorry for the extended delay. Between work and a personal problem, I just haven't felt like writing a budding romance. Thanks for the patience.

I made up the names for certain Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. The last names however I got off and are related to the Harry Potter world, just to make it more plausible.

I also made up a lot of Hermione's personal information. If somebody does know the correct official information for anything listed below, please let me know.

Hopefully all the inconsistencies have been fixed. If not, drop me a note. Thanks!


Chapter 16: The Rumor Mill


Blaise Zabini poured himself one stiff drink and drowned the firewhiskey in one big gulp. He felt he was entitled to it. Shit, he knew he was entitled to it. As he felt the whiskey burn itself down his body, he smiled at himself. It had been hell. Sheer and utter hell. But he had done it.

It had taken him the better part of four days to compile the information. He had approached some of the lesser players to collect some of the more basic information, like a class list and other such things. It had taken about 36 hours before the Gryffindor brokers caught wind of what he was doing and basically positioned themselves in the Great Hall, strategically close to a very private nook that most people didn't know existed. He knew when he sighted them that they knew. He decided it was best to just gear up and get the details no other information broker had, because as he had been informed by other sources, Hermione Granger had shared a room with Misses Brown and Patil up until this very year. Six years of living with Granger was bound to yield exclusive information.

And Draco had commissioned a complete dossier.

The session had been pure torture. Lavender and Parvati knew that he needed the information and had played him with finesse. Not that he would have ever publicly admit that they had the upper hand. He had managed to work a nice enough deal with them, escape with his pride more or less intact and had in his possession the information he needed.

As well as the location of one Colin Creevey, who he summarily went in search for. He wanted to be done as soon as possible.

It would take him another 6 hours to get the dossier ready. But then, then he could claim the prize that he wanted.

Blaise Zabini smiled and poured himself another drink. Draco Malfoy was going to owe him. Big time.

While Blaise Zabini was compiling all the information he had collected, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil were in one deep and intense conversation.


"So WHY do you think he's asking all this information?" Lavender queried Parvati.

"Isn't it obvious? It's for one of his bloody dossiers. Everyone knows that Zabini compiles the best information reports," Parvati said, flicking her long braid behind her.

"I'm not stupid! Of course I know that! The question is WHO commissioned it. And more importantly, why would Zabini willingly contact an official information broker?" Lavender chided Parvati.

Parvati frowned. It was obviously an outside job. No Slytherin could possibly be interested in Hermione. But why not use their own official information broker? Unless the guy didn't want his entire house know that he was interested. At the same time, the guy obviously wanted to signal that his interest was genuine by letting Lavender and her know. The guy had to be filthy rich though. Zabini's prices were steep.

"Who in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff has enough money to commission work from Zabini?" she asked.

"What years? It must be either sixth or seventh. Maybe a fifth, but I doubt it," Lavender answered, thinking about boys that could possibly even think about dating the Gryffindor Miss Perfect.

"Consider the fifth years, just in case," Parvati counseled.

"In Ravenclaw, there is Steward Ackerley, Frank Lochrin, William Ollerton the Second, and Paul Summerbee the Sixth. In Hufflepuff, there is Owen Cauldwell, Leonard Marchbanks, Kyle McDonald, Michael Smethwyck, and Gilbert Wigworthy," Lavender counted off the names using her fingers.

Both of the girls considered the names on the list. None of them seemed right. Several of the boys were already dating somebody else. And two of them were known to be gay. And Paul Summerbee the Sixth was a known womanizer. More importantly, none of them would have hesitated in using their own information broker or would be the type to be attracted to Hermione's type. It didn't bloody make sense. Who had commissioned the report?

"It couldn't have been a Gryffindor, Zabini would have rubbed it in our faces," Lavender said.

"It couldn't have been a Slytherin either," Parvati voiced her previous thought out loud.

Lavender stilled for a moment and her eyes narrowed in speculation, as if analyzing a fact in her head with intense scrutiny. "Unless…" she started to say.

"Unless what?" Parvati asked, relishing the look on Lavender's face.

"Unless no one commissioned the work," Lavender said gleefully, voicing her suspicions. And if they weren't correct, they would make for the most interesting table talk of the month. And maybe, just maybe, they would find out the real reason why Zabini was asking for information about Hermione.

"Which means that its Zabini is the one that is interested in Hermione!" Parvati shrieked. This had to be the juiciest rumor to have ever graced Hogwarts in their seven years: Blaise Zabini fancied Hermione Granger.

And this is how gossip gets started at Hogwarts.

If anything the information brokers from Gryffindor House excel at, it is gossip.


Draco Malfoy looked at the leather bound folder in front of him. Not that he had doubted Zabini's ability. Blaise was good at what he did. He was just surprised at the efficiency. He also knew he had not given Zabini an easy task. He wasn't going to question how Zabini had gotten the work done, merely that it had been done and in the time frame stated.

He looked at the customary black folder, darker than Hecate's soul and turned Zabini's cryptic words over and over. He knew that he owed Blaise big time. It had been an intensive, comprehensive dossier that he had asked for. Rush job as well. And usually Zabini would have collected his payment and been along his merry way. This time however, Blaise had asked for a boon to called forth at a moment of his making. Now, Draco knew that he had been caught in a fine mess. He disliked extremely owing Zabini such a carte blanche but at the same time, he could not refused. He had commissioned the work and it would reflect poorly as his position of Slytherin Prince to waste the information broker's services. Almost as importantly, one should never, ever, anger your House's information broker. You never knew when his or her services would come in handy. Reliable information was worth its weight in gold, and then some.

He opened the folder and started reading.

It was all there. He read through the basic facts.

Full Name: Hermione Jane Granger

Birthday: September 19, 1979

Parents Names: Philip Augustus Granger and Janet Marie Granger (nee Parker)

Their Professions: Dentists

Home Address: 1489 Bollingbrook Road, Sussex, England

Current income: Fluctuating between 70,000 pounds and 100,000 pounds a year. Fairly lucrative clientele.

Draco had to give Zabini credit. And once again wondered how the hell Zabini found out the things he found out. It wasn't like the Grangers had an account in Gringotts.

Height: 5'5

Weight: 122 pounds

Measurements: 34 – 29 - 32

Bra Size: 34B

Draco made a mental note of her measurements and her bra size. Always good to know, he thought to himself.

Hogwarts House: Gryffindor

Honors Held: Acclaimed First Year for her use of cool intellect; Dubbed the 'Smartest Witch in Hogwarts'; Holds the record for most OWLS in a year; Prefect for Fifth and Sixth Year; Head Girl Seventh Year; Possible Valedictorian; Student that has read the most books from the Hogwarts Library, currently with 689 books and counting.

School Schedule for the Year: Advanced Herbology, Advanced Potions, Advanced Arithmancy, Advanced Care of Magical Creatures, Advanced Transfigurations, Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts, Advanced Runes, Advanced Charms

Draco begrudgingly admired her scholastic aptitude and it didn't surprise him that she was the brains in the idiotic Golden Trio. He was actually surprised that Pothead and Weasel took as many advanced classes as they did.

Favorite Subject: Arithmancy Least Favorite Subject: Divination

Wand Type: Vinewood, Dragon Heartstring core, 10 inches. Excellent for Transfiguration and Charms. Good for protective spells. Purchased in Ollivanders, First Year.

Extracurricular Activities: Founding member of Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare (SPEW), Fourth Year. Part of Dumbledore's Army, Fifth Year. Current member of the Survival Club, Seventh Year. Assorted adventures with one Harry Potter and one Ronald Weasley, all officially unconfirmed

Favorite Color: Periwinkle Blue

Her Pets Name: Crookshanks, cat. Half Kneazle, unspecified origin. Purchased in Diagon Alley, 3rd Year.

Closest Associates: Harry James Potter, Gryffindor; Ronald Weasley, Gryffindor; Ginevra Molly Weasley, Gryffindor

Draco turned the page and started reading about her preferences. There were a lot of things he realized he knew about her as he read down the list, all because he shared quarters with her. He knew that she liked to shower in the mornings, liked chocolate éclairs and hot chocolate. He knew that she preferred simple scents, mainly floral in nature that seduced in their simplicity. He knew that she favored comfort over fashion, and muggle clothing over Wizards robes. As he leafed through the lengthy report, something caught his eye on page 4.

Possible Romantic Relationships: Viktor Krum, 4th Year, possibly continuing as they continue to owl each other; Harry Potter, unconfirmed rumor; Ronald Weasley, unconfirmed rumor

Not that it surprised Draco. Of course, everyone believed that Granger was having an affair-fling-secret relationship with other the Saintly Potter or the Weasel King. Wouldn't that be a fucking fairy tale ending? The Gryffindor Princess in the arms of one her two bestfriends. Fucking wankers.

No, what had really caught Draco's attention and made something twist in her gut was her continued contact with Viktor Krum. When they had first met, it had been during their fourth year and even though they weren't children, Hermione had been young. Viktor was older, more experienced and even when he wasn't as handsome as some people Draco knew, he was an internationally famous Quidditch player. Hell, Draco even remembered how the Weasel had made an arse out of himself for most of the year. He had practically been green with jealousy. Were they still together? Somehow, the possibility bothered Draco.

Draco continued to stare at the phrase "possibly continuing together as they continue to owl each other". He couldn't very well intercept Granger's correspondence. Not that it was outside his power… it simply was a logistical nightmare since Granger did not own an owl for personal use. He frowned.

He flipped through the rest of the report and saw that at the very end Zabini had attached some candid shots of Granger. All of them were probably taken by the Creevey kid, since a few of them were taken in the Gryffindor common room. He looked at one in which Granger was laughing, sheer joy and merriment was oozing out of her. He'd never seen her so happy and it struck him as strange. It was almost like she was a different person. A girl he didn't know.

Draco closed the report but couldn't get the image of a laughing Hermione out of his mind.


Hermione sighed for the 425th time in the last four days. Ever since she had decided to simply ignore Malfoy, she had buried herself in work. She had finished all her essays, met with all the Prefects to brief them on expectations and hear about their plans for the upcoming masquerade. She had been surprised to hear that Malfoy's band would be playing simply because she thought Ron would have stormed out of the meeting. Apparently, his objections had been drowned out by the fangirl swooning and shrieking of the female prefects who have previously seen Malfoy in dragon skin pants. Not that Hermione could blame them. Malfoy in those leather pants were dead sexy.

Hermione winced. She hadn't meant to think about Malfoy. Or how sexy he was. But she didn't seem to be able to stop herself. Ever since he came back from the prefect's meeting, and basically told her, with that smirk of his and that smoky voice that he knew about her crush, Hermione had not been able to construct scenarios in her head. In some of those scenarios, he humiliated her by cruelly rebuffing her as a stupid mudblood. In others, he just grinned wickedly at her before kissing her and then cruelly rebuffing her as a stupid mudblood. But in some, obviously induced by romantic hormones and sheer lunacy, he kissed her and didn't stop kissing her.

But Hermione turned away from dealing with the major issues in her life to deal with minor ones. Like Ron Weasley being in charge of decorations for the masquerade, which made her want to wince because Ron could just very well be colorblind. She remembered when she had to explain the difference between white and off-white and Ron had simply argued that there was no difference and she was being anal-retentive. She was actually waiting for Ron and Harry to come out of their Divination class so that she could talk to Ron about the decorations.

"Hermione, are you busy?" Seamus Finnegan's voice interrupted her thoughts.

Hermione looked up from Halloween Décor Throughout the Centuries she had been reading half-heartedly, trying to get ideas. Seamus was looking at her with a lopsided smile, and his Arithmancy book in his right hand. "No, just a little reading," Hermione said with a shrug.

"Ah, I was wondering if you could mind helping me with the last Arithmancy problem, it's a mite tricky," Seamus asked, opening up book to a dog-eared page.

Hermione was glad for the diversion. Although Seamus wasn't naturally adept at Arithmancy, he enjoyed struggling with it. It wasn't the first time he had approached her for help. "Not at all. It was tricky," she answered with a heart felt smile.

Hermione had no idea how pretty she was when she smiled. Her entire face would light up, and it was like she glowed. And Seamus Finnegan was a 17-year-old boy that liked pretty girls. But he also knew that he could never compete for Hermione's attention when she was bestfriends with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley; especially when one of her best friends had a huge and well-known crush on her. So Seamus simply decided to enjoy Hermione as a pretty girl that he had no chance in hell with.

They worked on the problem for a few minutes as Hermione pointed out his calculation mistakes.

"So, do you know what your costume will be?" Seamus asked, making some small talk as he continued to calculate some figures.

Hermione almost beamed at him. She wanted to thank Seamus for providing her with another minor problem that she could obsess about for a few weeks. Her costume. No more Draco, she had something else to deal with. Something that all girls worry about: what to wear. "No. No idea at all. Half the time I just want to show up as Cinderella or maybe as an old movie star like Marilyn Monroe or Ingrid Bergman. But that's no fun when no one knows who you are," she chirped back.

Seamus nodded. Being muggleborn as well, he understood perfectly the differences in how Halloween was celebrated in the muggle world as opposed to the wizarding world. "I know. I feel the same way. Like I would love to dress up as David Beckham, but no one would have clue who he is," Seamus added cheerily referring to a muggle that was iconic to the soccer world.

A thought made Hermione giggle. "Or remember when we were young and people would dress up as witches and wizards?" she said, sharing the memory with Seamus.

Seamus's face broke into a wide grin. "Do I ever! Boy! I can't imagine what my friends would think if I ever told them that witches and wizards are real!"

"Or ghosts? And that ghosts aren't people walking around with an old white towel on their heads?" Hermione added, laughing.

"I was ghost, for one Halloween once. When I was seven I think," Seamus confessed with a laugh.

"I was a witch. When I was eight," Hermione confessed.

"What are you talking about? You are a witch!" Seamus teased her.

Hermione laughed. "Why yes! Yes I am!"

Seamus watched her with a matching smile on his face. And tried not to pay attention to the thought that if Hermione and he were really muggles, he would have been able to ask her out.


Ginny Weasley raced to the corner of the library where Luna Lovegood was sitting and plunked herself down on the chair across the table. "Have you heard the latest?" she hissed out in a whisper, slightly out of breath.

Luna looked up placidly at her, awaiting information in Ginny's usual spitfire manner.

"I just heard from Trisha MacDonald who heard it from Angelica Pye who got it from Padma Patil who has it from a very reliable source that one Blaise Zabini fancies one Hermione Granger. Isn't that absolutely wild?" Ginny said in a conspiratorial whisper.

Luna laughed out loud; her laughter was like the twinkling of small silver bells. She knew whom Padma had gotten the information from and they were dead wrong. But of course, she expected nothing less from the foremost gossipmongers of the school.

Ginny grinned and shared in Luna's amusement, even if it was for the wrong reasons. "I know. I swear gossip these days just doesn't know what else to make up," she added.

"Yes, especially when Blaise is interested in you," she said merrily, the laughter still clinging to her voice.

Ginny stared at her for a moment and then shook her head in wry amusement. This was Luna after all, and sometimes she did go a little loony, bless her soul. She opened her knapsack and started to work on her homework.

Luna continued to be amused.


"So now you're stuck planning decorations with Millicent Bullstrode?" Harry was commiserating with Ron as they walked back from Divination class.

"Actually, it's more like Hermione and I are stuck decorating with that bull dog. Once Hermione found out, she insisted she needed to help out. Said something about not being to color coordinate my socks with my shoes," Ron continued to relate his woes. "What is she talking about? Why would I want to color coordinate my socks with my shoes?"

Harry Potter tried to hide his small smile from Ron. "Uh, I don't know mate. You know Hermione," he said soothingly.

"Yeah," Ron said quietly and part of him seemed to be somewhere else.

Harry noticed this. Not that he hadn't noticed this before. It just seemed, well, more obvious as more time went by. Well, obvious to everyone but to the person most interested. But he had decided it wasn't his place to say anything because he wanted Hermione and Ron to date because they wanted to not because he wanted them to. There was the distinct possibility that they would, just because they were all really good friends and Ron and Hermione knew it would make him happy if they did, but that's only just pretend happiness.

Harry was so wrapped up in his thoughts about the entire Ron-Hermione relationship possibility that he didn't notice that Ron had snapped back and had noticed how quiet he was.

"Oy, Harry, you okay there?" Ron asked with a worried look in his eyes.

Harry smiled at his best friend. Ron did very little to hide his concern, and even when he did, he did it very poorly. Funny how you think about how important a friendship really is to you at the strangest moments or at the most mundane. Like walking back from class. "Yeah… just thinking about whom to ask to the masquerade," Harry lied.

"I'd do it fast mate, before you become inundated with offers. Remember the last time? Bloody embarrassing how many girls you had to turn down," Ron continued on with his blunt manner of speaking.

Harry winced at the memory. The last time there had been a ball, he had asked Ginny to go with him because there was no one he really wanted to go with and because he didn't want to be stuck all night with someone that was way more interested in him than he was. Of course, going with Ginny had been great fun but he had still had to turn down an obscene number of girls. Not that he had kept count but apparently a number of boys in Gryffindor had. He could expect the same situation. Again. He wished the girls didn't ask him, he really didn't enjoy having to turn them down and dashing their hopes. You would think it would get easier with time and practice but he was still embarrassed by all the attention.

"I suppose you'll ask Ginny and I'll just ask Hermione and all four of us can have fun at the ball," Ron said casually. Maybe too casually. He eyed Harry as he made the statement.

But before Harry could respond to what Ron had said, a cruel voice ran out saying "Well you better hurry up Weasel King before the Bucktoothed One gets asked by someone else."


While Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were walking the halls on their way back to their dorm, Pansy Parkinson was in the girls loo hearing the latest gossip and was racking her brain furiously to try to assess how it might just impact her plans. Not that anyone knew that's what she was doing. She was standing in front of the mirror, smoothing out her eyebrows.

"But yes, apparently, the latest fabrication is that Blaise Zabini fancies that stupid Gryffindor mudblood whore," Tiffany Higgs said maliciously while looking at her perfectly manicured fingernails

"Is that Blaise as a girl or as a boy?" Claudia Jugson said with the sardonic arch of her eyebrow.

"Does it matter? It's obviously utter rubbish. If anything, its probably the mudblood whore fancying our favorite little transvestite tart," Melinda Travers said with a sneer.

Pansy wanted to smack Melinda, how stupid could one slag be? Hermione Granger was not fancying Blaise. The little bitch was after her Drakie-poo. And Blaise knew that she was planning to cure the insufferable know-it-all bookworm from her little infatuation. However, if Blaise was interested in the stupid mudblood, would he snitch on her with Draco or would he set himself up to be the little bint's savior? No, even if the rumor wasn't true, Zabini would not tell Malfoy. Because he either wanted to take the credit for saving Potter's whore or he would do nothing to disprove the rumor.

"You're only bitter because Blaise refused to shag you. Either as a girl or as a boy," Tiffany said acidly.

"Well at least I didn't blow Gregory Goyle behind the Quidditch pitch last fall," Melinda replied cattily.

Tiffany and Melinda glared at each other. Pansy wanted to tell Tiffany that all the Slytherin boys knew about that particular incident. She also wanted to tell Melinda that everyone also knew that she had shagged both Vincent Crabbe and Ivan Zograf in the locker room their fourth year.

"Ladies, it seems to me that we're all just wasting our breath here. We shouldn't be keeping this vital piece of information to ourselves," Claudia said with a smirk. Out of all the girls, Claudia was the one that Pansy treaded the most carefully with. She was crafty, sinister and utterly devious. And, as Pansy knew, been trying for years to edge Pansy out in Draco's eyes.

"Yes, we wouldn't want others to think that this rumor started in the Slytherin quarters now, would we?" Pansy said mildly but with her eyes flashing, as she strode out of the loo. Harpies, all of them, she thought. Unfortunately, aside from Millicent, they were the only girls in Slytherin House with comparable wealth and status to match hers, and thus the only acceptable female companions available. Basically, they all ran in the same circles. Oh, its not to say that they didn't play nice with each other, or have fun going shopping to some of the most exclusive boutiques in the wizarding world or eating out at the finest restaurants, but they were all used to getting their own way. All the bloody time.

However, something interrupted Pansy's thoughts about her closest girl friends. She caught sight of two people that would benefit the most from knowing that somebody else was after their Gryffindor sweetheart. With a huge smile on her face and flip of her blond hair, she strode after them.


Author's Note: Finally got around to correcting the chapter, thank you to all those that submitted information. Especially to Wolf Realm, who sent urls. Yes, I am in the middle of writing the next chapter. Reviews are always a welcome reminder that you want an update.