Chapter 16: Umm…I forgot

Hermione snuggled right up next to Draco and gave him small butterfly kisses in quick secession. And then she was shocked, as she was pushed on her back and looked into Draco's smirking face.

"I was awake before you came in."

"Oh."

Draco chose not to reply and instead decided to kiss her. When he moved on to her neck, she interrupted him.

"Wait…Draco stop."

"What?"

"I came up here to ask you something."

"What?"

"I…um…I forgot."

"Well then…" Draco made to go back to her neck.

"No…it had something to do with Ginny and you."

"Me and Ginny?"

"Ginny and I…yeah, I was going to ask you something."

"What?"

"Well I don't know, I can't remember!"

"Okay…" He tried to go to her neck again. She gasped.

"Oh! I remember. Ginny – " She was cut off by Draco's lips.

"Tell me later."

He went back to kissing her. She was contemplating pushing him off her and telling him anyway, but just then he nibbled on her lower lip, and she decided it would be best if she just told him later.

The next morning Hermione woke up and tried to stretch. She found an obstacle. Draco's arm was draped over her arm and waist. She smiled and decided to sleep just a little longer. Snuggling in, it didn't take long for her to fall asleep again. When she woke up later, Draco wasn't in bed. Hermione took advantage of that fact and stretch, covering the entire bed. She pretended not to notice when Draco came in and kept stretching. Opening her eyes, she smiled at him. He stuck out his tongue at her and asked a question.

"Do you have any chocolate?"

"Yeah, let me pull some out of my back pocket."

He just smirked at her.

"Oh! I still have to tell you. Okay, get this – Ginny likes Blaise!"

"Blaise? My friend Blaise?"

"Yes! Wouldn't they just be so cute together?"

"Uh…"

"Right, anyway, do you know if he likes her?"

"No."

"Well…could you ask him?"

"No."

"What? Why not?"

"Guys don't just ask if they like some girl, Hermione."

"Oh, that's right. Ron and Harry did that all the time. Well…does he know about us?"

"Yeah. Told him a couple of days ago. He has yet to talk to me."

"What? He's not talking to you?"

"Hey, it's cool. If he doesn't like it, too bad for him."

Hermione let it drop.

Two days later, she stumbled upon the perfect opportunity. Blaise was sitting in the library, alone, during dinnertime. When she sat down, he didn't look up. He didn't acknowledge her either. Hermione gave into boredom and began tapping her nails on the table. Very annoying to anyone who isn't doing it. After a few minutes, he looked up at her.

"Do you need something?"

"Yes, actually."

"Too bad I don't care. Goodbye."

"Too bad I'm not leaving."

He glared. She stared back impassively.

"I'm not going to tell anyone."

"That's not why I'm here. Draco's quite faithful you won't tell anyone."

"Then kindly leave, I don't care what you have to say."

"Are you mad because my parents are muggles? Is that why you won't talk to him?"

"Look, I could care less about you. I'm mad because he lied to me."

"Have you thought about this rationally? How well do you think you would have taken two years ago? Or maybe even one?"

"I probably would have told his father, or my father. Or something. But that's not the point."

Hermione got this very determined look on her face, and she almost looked sort of cocky.

"That's exactly the point. He couldn't tell you back then. What would his father have done to him? Think about it. We both know it wouldn't be anything good. You're his best friend. You're the only person that he deemed worthy to tell. Don't waste that, please. I'm not asking you this as Granger, I'm asking you this as his girlfriend."

Hermione left. Hopefully he would talk to Draco before the week was up. Ginny was getting anxious, and Hermione didn't want to tell her about Draco's problems. After all, if he wanted her to know, he would have told her. That's the way it worked with them.

It was a Saturday night at dinnertime that she saw Blaise go sit next to Draco again. Hermione was happy the rest of dinner. On her way out of the hall, Hermione grabbed Ginny and pulled her aside.

"I've got good news. They talked about it, but He didn't give him a direct answer, so he's going to bring it up again, okay?"

"Alright."

Both Harry and Ron would wonder why Ginny was so happy when she walked into the common room after she had been almost sad at dinner.

Two days later found Draco and Blaise, sitting in the common room that he and Hermione shared. Blaise was reading and Draco was just finishing his essay for Snape. He leaned back on the couch, sighed, and began to speak in a casual voice.

"Weasley likes you."

"What?" Blaise was picturing Ron, and he shuddered.

"Ginny Weasley likes you. Hermione asked me to talk to you to find out if you liked her back."

"Oh."

"So…do you?"

"What?"

"Damn it! Stop reading and listen to me! Do you like Ginny?"

"Yeah. I could see us hanging out."

"Okay then. Hermione will be happy."

"Why's that?"

"She told me, "they would be just the cutest couple" and something else that I forget right now, but it doesn't matter."

"Uh huh."

"God damn it! Blaise either talk to me or read the stupid book."

"I'll have you know it's a very good book. It's all about Transfiguration, just fascinating."

Draco pretended to snore. He woke with a jolt when Blaise threw his quill at him.

"No need to be violent, Blaise. Well, Hermione should be here soon and she's bringing Ginny, so it's your choice if you wanna go or stay."

"I'll stay. Your common room is more quiet than mine."

"Right. Oh, here they come now."

Just then, you could hear Hermione's voice and Ginny replying.

"What book is that? You haven't hear a word I've said and I've had to save you twice from running into a wall?"

They entered the common room.

"Oh, it's this wonderful book about Transfiguration. It's simply fascinating, I can't put it down. And you've run into walls before, so it doesn't really matter, now does it?"

"That was in my second year, Gin! You're in your sixth, that's a major difference. (she caught sight of the boys) Oh, hello Draco, Blaise." Ginny's head snapped up. Draco said hey, and Blaise just nodded to her. Hermione dragged Ginny further into the room.

"Blaise, I don't believe you met Ginny. Ginny, Blaise Zambini."

"Hi, pleasure to meet you." Blaise stuck his hand out, and Ginny had to switch her book to her left hand.

"Yeah, same here." Blaise caught sight of the book.

"Transfiguration? I've just been reading the same book."

"Oh, really? What part are you in?"

"I just got to the part detailing Animagi."

"I'm just past that. Aren't the specifics just great?"

"Yeah. You wanna talk about it?"

"I'd love to!"

Hermione sat down next to Draco on the couch across from Ginny and Blaise. She leaned in.

"So, have you asked him about it?"

"Right before you came in."

"What did he say?"

"Isn't it obvious?" He motioned to the pair of them.

"Great! I'm glad they have something in common."

"Yep." Draco really could care less, and you could tell from his bland voice.

"Well, hey. Harry asked me to come by the common room today after lunch, so I'm gonna head over there. Alright?"

"Yeah. Just don't take to long, I can't stand Transfiguration!" He looked miserably at the two of them.

"Oh, I know! It's so boring, Potions is much better, even if it is with Snape."

"Hey! I like Snape."

"That's because he's not constantly taking off house points and such from you."

"Okay, so you have a point."

"That's right. I'm off. Bye." She gave him a quick kiss, then got up. As she walked past Ginny, she spoke.

"Gin, I'm going to see Harry, okay?"

Ginny just did the wave off thing with her hand, as she was listening intently to what Blaise was saying about his new theory. Hermione just smiled and left.

Bouncing into the common room, she immediately spotted Harry in his usual place. Ron was no where to be seen. She sat down.

"Hey, Hermione. How you've been?"

"Fine."

"Ron's serving detention."

"Oh."

Silence.

"Are you mad at me?"

"Well, yeah, sort of."

"Why?"

"Because Ron and I get in a fight, and even though you know I'm in the right here, you still hang out with him way more. You haven't even said a whole paragraph's worth of words to me since Christmas break."

"Well, it's hard, okay! It's not my fault you two are always arguing!"

"And I didn't ask you to chose between us, did I? No, I didn't. I realized that Ron is your best friend and I wasn't even thinking about putting you on the spot like he did, but I thought I was your best friend too."

"You are."

"And yet this is the longest conversation we've had almost all year and we're talking about Ron, for goodness sakes!"

"Well…"

"Yeah…there's nothing you can say to that, is there? I thought this year was going to be great, and it's been good, sure, but we're supposed to be best friends. I just thought we'd be hanging out more than this."

"Well…you could apologize, even if you are right." He added hurriedly.

"No! I will not apologize and just let him have his way, Harry! I though you knew you me better than that."

"It was just a thought, I didn't think you would do it."

Silence.

"Well…Listen, I left Ginny in my common room, and I had better get back, I'm helping her with potions."

"Alright." He sighed. He had hoped it would go better than this.

"See you later Harry.

"Bye, Hermione."

She fumed on the inside. How dare he ask HER to apologize? I mean really, that was just not going to happen. Simply ridiculous. And really, she wasn't missing Harry that much. She had more fun with Ginny and Draco, and who knew? Maybe Blaise would be in there someday. For now, she would continue sitting with Ginny, continue ignoring Ron, and continue to laugh with Draco. Life was good for once. She felt happy, and that was a feeling she thought had left a long time ago. Now that it was here again, she wasn't about to let it go for a friendship that didn't even mean that much to Harry. Ginny was her best friend, and she was in love. Life was great.

How was that? I really like this chapter, and I do believe it's one of my longer ones. Thank you to all my wonderful reviewers, you're all fabulous. I like that word. However, I don't like the new setup when you log in. The old one was much better in my opinion. And does anyone know if it's Animangi, or Animanguses, or something? Cause I don't. Oh, and I went to see Mr. And Mrs. Smith today! Brad Pitt Rocks! Whoo Whoo! And I love Angelina too, so it's all good. Bye!

Dizzy