A/N: First attempt at a fanfic under new penname. This story should be good; we already planned it all out…the first part of the first chapter may be a little sucky, but it gets better. Please read & review!

Disclaimer: We do not own Harry Potter or any other related themes/elements.

Chapter 1

Hermione approached the portrait hole to Gryffindor tower happy that she finally had a break from prefect duties. She fully intended to spend that free time away from Draco, who she unfortunately had to work with seeing as he was prefect of Slytherin, and with her best friends Harry and Ron. Little did Hermione know that she would end up spending more time away from her friends than she would have liked.

Hermione said the password with a grin on her face (ouvre) and stepped back allowing the fat lady to swing forward. She stepped in and immediately spotted Harry and Ron, sitting in their usual corner.

She walked over to them and cheerfully said "Hi Harry, hi Ron!" However, the cheerfulness in her greeting was not responded to in the way she expected.

"Eh…Hermione? I don't think this was the best time to come" Harry said nervously.

She looked over at Ron, baffled, and saw that his face was as red as the color of the common room; his expression filled with anger. She started to back away, finally understanding what Harry was saying, but it was too late. Ron exploded.

"So you finally decided to grace us with your godly presence now did you?" Ron said coldly.

"What are you talking about?" Hermione said a little hurt and angry.

"You know EXACTLY WHAT I MEAN!" by now, a few Gryffindors from other years were looking their way, and Harry had his face buried in his hands muttering "let it go…it's not a big deal".

"NO HARRY, IT IS A BIG DEAL!" Ron screamed, shaking with anger. "HERMIONE NEVER HAS ANY TIME FOR US ANY MORE, AND IS ALWAYS BUSY OFF WITH THAT FERRET!"

This angered Hermione. "YOU THINK I LIKE SPENDING TIME WITH DRACO! HE IS AN INSUFFERABLE—"

"Draco, DRACO!" said Ron, slightly insane. "Did you hear that Harry? She-she called him Draco!" Ron said spitting out the name like it was disgustingly foul.

"Ron!" Harry hissed embarrassed. "Stop making a scene."

Hermione who was not able to get a word in during this spoke up. "For your information Ron I called him Draco by accident. I had just gotten used to him and decided to act mature and call a truce to no longer call him a ferret."

"You little traitor!" screamed Ron trembling with fury now. "See Harry? I was right!"

"Traitor? TRATOR! You call me a traitor? At least I'm not the one who would accuse my best friend of fraternizing with the enemy!" Hermione shrieked, slightly hysterical.

"You just know that I'm right you bushy-haired know-it-all" Ron said smugly.

This seemingly careless remark really hurt Hermione. Normally, if someone insulted her looks or her intelligence it wouldn't affect her but the way he said it and the fact that it was he who had said it really hurt her deeply.

Harry knew that Ron had gone too far, however didn't know what to do in this situation.

"I HATE YOU RONALD WEASLEY!" she screamed.

Hermione stormed out of the Gryffindor common room, tears streaming down her face. She decided to go to the quidditch pitch to try to calm down…it was late and she assumed that no one would be there.

Once she arrived out past the grounds and to the pitch, Hermione made her way to the top bleacher and just sat there, staring into space. She then noticed a small figure zooming around the pitch. Hermione watched in amazement as he/she went into a steep dive, rapidly approaching the ground. Hermione felt fear rising within her stomach. The person was going to crash!

In panic, she stood up and screamed, "WATCH OUT!"

The figure looked up, startled, and in that moment of hesitation crashed to the ground. Hermione quickly ran down to the person, who had managed to get into an upright position while wincing in pain.

"Are you okay?" she asked gently.

The person looked towards Hermione and she gasped as she realized who it was.

"Malfoy!" she asked bemused.

"Granger! What the bloody hell is your problem?" he yelled.

Hermione was confused; this was the second time that day that a guy started yelling at her for no apparent reason.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Malfoy glared. "I mean why the hell were you telling me to watch out?"
"I was…worried that you'd hit the ground?" she said uncertainly.

"I can take care of myself and was doing just fine until YOU came and ruined my concentration!"

"Excuse me! I was looking out for YOUR safety!" she pointed out.

Draco stared at her like she was crazy. "More like you wanted me to crash and die!"

Hermione snorted. "Yeah, exactly why I told you to watch out!"

"Ha! So you admit it!" Draco exclaimed looking triumphant. "I should have you thrown into Azkaban for attempted murder!"

"WHAT! I admitted that I was trying to prevent you from death! I should have YOU thrown into Azkaban for accusing me of attempted murder, while you KNOW that I was trying to warn you about…the ground!" she finished lamely.

Draco stared at her and stated flat out "liar".

"Ferret" she retorted.

Draco sighed. "You get turned into a ferret once and nobody forgets it."

"Maybe because that ferret was you" Hermione retorted.

Draco smirked. "So I'm famous now?"

Hermione shrugged. "Famous? Yeah…famous for being the only idiot who goes and gets himself turned into a ferret—not like you wouldn't be an idiot anyway."

Draco actually looked offended. "Me? IDIOTIC! Fat chance. If anyone was an idiot it would be you."

"Me?" she gave a fake laugh. "Of course that's the reason why I get better grades than you."

Draco didn't have a response to that. That was true after all. The first time Granger was right.

Hermione smirked a true Malfoy smirk; she was on a roll. "What, nothing to say to that? You must be losing your touch."

"So you admit that I had a touch at one point? How would you know?" he asked, with false shock in his voice.

Hermione looked at him with disgust. "I didn't mean it like that you dimwitted pervert."

"Hey, you know you want me." He said, being his cocky self again.

"Yeah right. Keep dreaming ferret."

"Of course I will…but not about you." He said coolly.

"Ugh, I give up." Hermione said agitatedly. She turned around and made her way back to the castle.

"Good riddance!" Draco called at her retreating figure.

Ron started pacing the common room. He had just witnessed an argument between Hermione and Malfoy, and at first he thought it was a 'lover's spat' but then realized it wasn't when they started calling each other names. Oh no! He thought. I was wrong—Hermione doesn't like Malfoy and I threw away our friendship over nothing! I can't be proven wrong though…I must somehow be proven right…I know! I'll set them up! It's perfect! Except for the fact that I am setting up my best friend—ex best friend, with the enemy. But that's not the point…right?

Ron turned around in the common room to find Harry still sitting on the couch with his head in his hands.

"Lighten up." Ron said. "I've got a plan…you in?"

Harry looked up. "That depends…what is it?"

"Set Hermione and Draco up, of course!" Ron said cheerfully.

Harry stared at him with his mouth open. "What! Are you insane!"

Ron chuckled. "Funny…I've always been asked that question. I can't imagine why though…"

"But, WHY do you want to set them up?" Harry asked. "I mean, didn't you just tell her off for liking Malfoy?"

"Well…" Ron started, blushing slightly. "I thought she liked him. But then I saw them arguing at the quidditch pitch and I don't think that she likes him. But now I have the problem of being wrong, and I can't be proven wrong! It's happened way too many times before!"

"I…I dunno Ron. I mean, I'll have to think it over. I'm just not sure if this is the right thing to do." Harry said.

"Well, mate, I'm going off to bed and think of ideas to set them up. Let me know in the morning about your decision. Good night!" And with that Ron skipped up the stairs, causing him to earn a few looks from the others in the common room.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" Ginny screamed from behind Harry. "YOU WILL MOST CERTAINLY NOT HELP RON IN THIS CRAZY SCHEME OF HIS!"

Harry looked at her terrified. "Okay Gin, I won't?"

"DON'T YOU USE THAT UNCERTAIN TONE WITH ME YOUNG MAN!"

"Excuse me? I'm older than you!" Harry exclaimed.

"That's not the point…" Ginny said, flushing. "The point is that you're not going to help Ron no matter what!"

"And why, may I ask, not?" Harry asked.

"Because…" Ginny said frustrated. "It's not right to mess with your friend's relationships…and," Ginny smirked at what she said next. "I already know that Hermione has her eye on another Slytherin."

"Who, Goyle?" Harry asked confused. "That's just…wrong. But I do now see why she was sticking up for him on the train…"

"No you idiot!" Ginny said hitting Harry over the head with a book. "That's just…ugh. There are no words to describe how wrong that would be."

"Oh…who is it then?"

"I can't say." Ginny said firmly.

"Why not? I am her best friend…or was anyway." Harry responded.

"Because Hermione made me promise not to tell!" Ginny said.

"Fine then, I guess I'll just have to go help Ron…" Harry said, casually getting up.

"No, wait! No matter what, you can't help Ron! I told you before! Fine, I'll tell you who the Slytherin is, but you can't say a word about it to ANYONE! Especially Ron." Ginny said, exasperated.

"Okay…who is it?" Harry said with an evil glint in his eye.

Ginny bit her lip. "It's…" she moved closer and whispered in his ear, "Blaise."

"Zabini!" Harry exclaimed surprised.

"Shhhh, not so loud!" Ginny hissed, clamping a hand over his mouth.

"Mhmhmhmm."

"What?" Ginny asked confused.

Harry exasperatedly pointed to the hand covering his mouth.

"Oh, right." Ginny said, removing her hand.

"I won't tell." Harry promised. He then got up to go to his room to get some sleep.

"Wait." Ginny said. "We're not done yet."

Harry groaned. "What now?"

"You have to help me get them together!" Ginny said in a matter-of-fact voice. "And don't you dare say no."

"Err…do I have a choice?" Harry asked.

"If I did give you a choice, would you help me?" Ginny asked sweetly.

"…no?" Harry said uncertainly.

"Wrong answer." Ginny said menacingly. "If you don't agree, I will NEVER talk to you again, and I will tell Draco you're gay and want to go out with him."

"I meant yes!" Harry squeaked.

Ginny grinned. "Good answer."

A/N: Hope that you enjoyed! Like the evil Ginny? What do you think that Ron's gonna do next? Review!