Author's Note: This is my longest chapter yet (over 4,000 words). I'm not sure if that's good or bad...

Oh, and just wanted to respond to one reviewer:

Darkwing731 – You are probably so totally right about Blaise not knowing the saying, "One for the road". I actually had that thought myself after I wrote it, but kept it in cuz…well, I don't know why, hehe. However, though, Hermione does know the meaning of the saying and has heard it before…she just didn't know what it was referring to when he said it. In other words, she didn't know it meant he wanted to kiss her. :D

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Okay, now on with the story…

"Let me get this straight," Ginny said. "You kissed Blaise…and then you kissed Malfoy…and then you kissed Blaise again? All in one evening?"

"Yes," replied Hermione.

"You little trollop!" Ginny squealed in delight.

"Shh!" Hermione hissed, looking around the common room in hopes that nobody was listening in. "I am not a trollop!"

It was late Sunday morning, and Hermione had just filled Ginny in on the events that had taken place the night before. As expected, Ginny was more than thrilled to hear about just how eventful it had been.

"So this means you guys talked? You and Malfoy, I mean."

Hermione bit her lip. "Not exactly. I mean…I don't know…not really. We didn't profess our love to each other, if that's what you're wondering."

"You just snogged each other senseless." Ginny sighed and looked deep in thought, as if she were imagining what it had been like. "That must have been hot."

Hermione couldn't help but smile a very big smile. "Yes…actually, it was. It was the first time I've kissed Malfoy without being under the influence of a love potion and…I have to say…I enjoyed it."

Ginny squealed again, this time with Hermione squealing right along with her.

"Looks like we've come at a bad time," a voice muttered behind them.

Hermione spun around to see her two best friends standing there, looking at the girls with ill expressions on their faces. Neither Harry nor Ron particularly liked getting involved in "girl moments".

"Harry! Ron!" Hermione exclaimed. She jumped up from the couch, ran over to them and pulled them into a group hug.

"Erm…" Harry said, looking uncomfortable. "What's with her?" he asked Ginny over Hermione's shoulder.

"I'll let her tell you herself," Ginny said, smiling. "I don't want you two killing the messenger."

"Uh-oh," said Ron, quickly escaping Hermione's grasp. "What does she mean by that?"

Hermione shot a glare over at Ginny. Now she would have to tell Harry and Ron, or else they would annoy her until she did. "Um…well…" She sighed. She had been hoping she wouldn't have to tell them about Malfoy. Mainly because she didn't know what there was to tell. But for the time being, all she said was, "Well, there's a small possibility that Malfoy and I don't loathe each other after all."

Both Harry and Ron simultaneously looked horrified. Hermione ignored them and continued: "We kissed last night…"

A deafening silence filled the room. Harry and Ron just stood there, their jaws practically hitting the floor, until Ginny finally spoke up and said, "Hey, why don't we all go down to Hogsmeade?"

Hermione glanced nervously between Harry and Ron. "Harry? Ron? Please say something."

"I think going to Hogsmeade is a splendid idea," Harry said flatly.

"Harry, don't ignore this," Hermione said.

"What do you expect him to do, Mione?" Ron said through gritted teeth. "What do you expect me to do? Congratulate you? Pat you on the back? This is Malfoy we are talking about here. We can't just accept this. But out of respect for you, we are choosing not to yell at you about it. So ignoring it right now seems like the more sensible thing to do."

"Yell at me about it?" Hermione said angrily. "If anyone should be yelling here, it should be me at the two of you!"

"Us?" Harry said in confusion. "What did we do?"

"It's not what you did. It's what you didn't do!" Hermione looked at her two best friends, who both looked genuinely perplexed. "Why didn't you tell me the truth about that love potion? Why didn't you tell me what it really meant – the fact that it worked? Why did you keep this from me?"

Both of the boys looked shocked. "How did you -"

"I told her," Ginny said, standing up from the couch and folding her arms across her chest.

"You?" Ron said. "And how did you -"

"I overheard you two talking the other night," Ginny explained.

Ron glared at his sister. "So you eavesdropped, and then you tattled? Nice one, Ginny," he said, very sarcastically.

"Now you listen here!" Ginny said, now placing a hand on her hip, while the other hand proceeded to point a finger aggressively at the two boys standing across from her. "Hermione is my friend too, and I felt that she had a right to know! Am I the only one who has noticed how terribly heartbroken this girl has been for the past few days? I thought this would help her feel better, and guess what? It's worked! You two should be ashamed of yourselves! You care more about your petty differences with Malfoy than you do your own best friend's feelings!"

"We care about Hermione's feelings!" Harry said defensively. "That's why we didn't tell her! We didn't want her to end up pursuing a relationship with Malfoy, because she will only get hurt in the end! How can you accuse us of not caring?"

"Yeah!" Ron said in agreement.

Harry turned to Hermione. "Please, Hermione. Please believe me when I say that we only had your best interests at heart when we decided not to tell you about the potion."

"I believe you," Hermione said softly. "I know you guys only want the best for me. But what if I was to tell you that pursuing a relationship with Malfoy would be the best for me?"

"But it's not!" Ron exclaimed. "Are you completely daft, Hermione? Malfoy is a stupid git! He's a ferret! You'd have to be delusional in order to want to date Draco Malfoy!"

Hermione threw her hands up in defeat. "That's it! I really don't feel like discussing this right now! I know that you two are never going to accept this, but that's your problem – not mine! And I'm not going to change my feelings just so that you two don't have to worry about me getting hurt. This is really none of your concern!"

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but changed his mind as Hermione spun around and headed for the portrait hole.

"Where are you going?" he called after her.

"I'm going to Hogsmeade. By myself," she said, not looking back. The door closed behind her.

Ginny glared at her brother and Harry. "Way to go, guys! Alienate our best friend, why don't you!" She, too, proceeded to storm off out of the common room, most likely to try and catch up with Hermione.

When both of them were gone, Ron looked over at Harry with an exasperated look on his face. He shook his head and said, "Girls."

Harry shrugged. "You can say that again."

Draco stared across the table at his date in complet boredom. Luckily, she was extremely pretty, because her good looks seemed to be the only thing she had going for her.

"So Michelle told Sarah that she really shouldn't wear pink, because it looks absolutely horrid on her. You wouldn't believe how much that upset Sarah. She was in the lavatory for the rest of the day, crying her poor eyes out. I honestly have no idea what Michelle was talking about – yellow looks a lot worse on Sarah than pink does."

Draco suddenly wanted to gouge his eyes out with a fork. "Interesting," he said.

"I know!" Sadie exclaimed. "Hey, did you hear about Scarlet Jones? I overheard her telling Melanie Fitzsimmons that she thinks Professor Snape is cute! Oh my God, can you believe that?" She giggled furiously.

Now, Draco wanted to gouge out his eyes and throw up, simultaneously. "I want another butterbeer. Would you like another butterbeer? I'm going to go get some more butterbeers."

Without waiting for her to respond, Draco quickly departed and headed for the bar. It was early Sunday afternoon, and he was spending it with the most boring, shallow girl he had ever had the displeasure of meeting. And to make matters worse, she was not helping him rid his mind of Granger. In fact, quite the opposite – while she had been filling him in on what kind of spells to use for sleek and shiny hair, and what color not to wear after Labor Day, all Draco could do was replay in his mind that kiss he shared with Hermione the night before. And then he would replay the two kisses he had seen her share with Blaise, and he'd suddenly want to punch the table.

So in other words, this was the worst date Draco Malfoy had ever had.

"Can I get two more butterbeers?" he asked the bartender the second he reached the bar.

Markus nodded and walked off to retrieve them. As Draco drummed his fingers impatiently on the counter, a female voice said, "Malfoy?"

Looking to his left, he noticed that Hermione was standing there. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed her as he'd neared the bar. You could see her bushy hair from a mile away.

"Hey," she said with a half smile.

"Hey," Draco responded – a little too softly in his opinion, so he cleared his throat and quickly added coldly, "Granger."

Her smile wavered a bit.

They stood there uncomfortably for a moment, not speaking, until finally Draco demanded, "What are you doing here?"

Ignoring the fact he sounded bitter, Hermione sighed and replied, "Getting away from my friends. Sometimes they just…ugh. They drive me insane."

Draco snorted. He wanted to make yet another anti-Scarhead and Weasel comment, but figured he'd better not. Instead, he said, "You're not here with Zabini?"

Hermione blinked. "Blaise? No. I didn't even know he was here. Is he here? Where is he?"

"You have eyes, Granger," Draco snapped. "Use them."

"It was just a question!" Hermione said defensivly. "No need to get all in a huff about it."

"Whatever." Draco knocked on the counter. "Hey," he said loudly, "who do I have to curse around here to get a drink?"

"What's wrong with you?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing, Granger! Nothing at all! Look, why don't you go find someone who actually cares to hear your voice? I'm sure Zabini is around here somewhere. I'll bet if you just bat your eyelashes, he'll appear in a flash."

Hermione opened her mouth to protest, but was interrupted by Markus, handing both of them their bottles of butterbeer.

"Thanks," Draco muttered. He took the bottles and without so much as a "goodbye" to Hermione, he returned to his table.

"It's about time!" Sadie exclaimed as Draco sat down across from her, placing a bottle of butterbeer in front of her.

He glanced up at the bar to see if Hermione had been watching him. Much to his chagrin, he saw that just like he'd predicted, Zabini had appeared by her side. Draco scowled.

"Draco?" Sadie said. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Draco grumbled.

"So what was I talking about? Oh yeah. So Michelle and I went shopping yesterday, and I found the most gorgeous dress robes! They were purple – by the way purple looks great on me – and…"

Draco tuned her out. He really didn't care to hear her talk about yet another gorgeous set of dress robes. He glanced up at Hermione again. This time, he could have sworn he caught her looking over at him – but she'd looked away too quickly in order for him to really tell. She seemed engrossed in a conversation with Zabini.

"Earth to Draco!" a voice said with a laugh. Sadie was waving her hand in front of his face, trying to get his attention.

"Sorry," Draco mumbled.

Sadie frowned. She got up suddenly and walked around the table and took a seat right next to him. Placing a hand on his shoulder, she said, "You seem really tense. I think you need a massage."

"No," Draco said, "I'm fine, really, I just…ohhh…" His voice trailed off as her hand began to knead his shoulder. It felt nice. At least, a lot nicer than the last massage he'd received, which had been from Pansy. Massaging was just another thing that Pansy Parkinson was really bad at.

Draco closed his eyes and let Sadie continue to massage his shoulders. This was certainly helping get his mind off of Granger. Wait…Granger who?

"Do you like that?" Sadie asked.

"Yeah," Draco replied. "I do."

"Well," she said. She pulled her hand away. "I have something you might like even more."

Draco opened his eyes and looked at her. "Oh yeah? And what's that?"

"This." She leaned in slowly and kissed him.

An alarm went off in Draco's brain that told him this was a bad thing. However, he chose to ignore it, since this girl was a fairly good kisser, and the whole thing was a much-needed distraction. With that realization, he slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her in closer. Sadie sighed and deepened the kiss.

Draco was unsure how long they'd been kissing. All he knew was that was out of breath by the time Sadie pulled away.

"That was nice," Sadie said, smiling victoriously.

"Yeah, it was…" Without thinking, Draco looked up. Across the pub stood Hermione, who was looking at him with an expression he couldn't quite place. If he didn't know better, he might have said she looked hurt. However, he turned his attention back to Sadie. "…nice," he finished the sentence.

Sadie grinned and leaned in for another kiss. Draco almost went for it, but just as their lips were about to touch, he pulled away.

"What's wrong?" Sadie asked with a pout.

Draco actually thought that was a pretty good question – one that he did not know the answer to. "Nothing," he replied, "I just…um…" His voice trailed off as he looked up once more in the direction where Hermione was standing, just in time to see her leaving the pub. "I just…need to get some air…" he said, getting up from the table.

Sadie's pout grew bigger. "But -"

Draco did not get to hear her protest; he was already halfway across the pub. He had no idea what he was doing. Well, actually, he did know what he was doing – he was following Hermione. He just didn't know why. All he did know was that he felt a sudden urge to talk to her.

Just, like, 2 minutes earlier…

"What's wrong with you?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing, Granger! Nothing at all! Look, why don't you go find someone who actually cares to hear your voice? I'm sure Zabini is around here somewhere. I'll bet if you just bat your eyelashes, he'll appear in a flash."

Hermione opened her mouth to protest, but was interrupted by Markus, handing both of them their bottles of butterbeer.

"Thanks," Draco muttered. He took the bottles and without so much as a "goodbye" to Hermione, he returned to his table.

Hermione's eyes followed him all the way. To her surprise, she saw that he was returning to an occupied table. She should have known – after all, he'd ordered two butterbeers. She glanced at the girl Draco had just handed the butterbeer to, and not to Hermione's surprise, she was absolutely gorgeous. She frowned.

"Looks like somebody needs a butterbeer," a voice said behind her. Hermione spun around to see Blaise standing there.

She gave him a smile she hoped looked sincere. Holding up her bottle for him to see, she said, "Already got one right here."

"Well I think you ought to drink it, instead of just looking like you want to drown in it." Blaise furrowed his brow. "Seriously, though…you look like you've just lost your best friend."

When Hermione failed to respond, or acknowledge that she even heard him, Blaise followed her gaze and found himself looking at Draco and some girl getting cozy at a corner table.

"Who is she?" Hermione asked softly.

Blaise shrugged. "I have no clue. I've seen her around school. She's a Slytherin. Fifth year, I think." He paused, realizing that Hermione didn't so much want to know who the girl was, rather who she was to Draco. He sighed. "Look, Granger, I'm sure it's nothing, alright? They're probably just fr -"

He'd started to say "friends", but stopped mid-word when he noticed the girl was now giving Draco a massage.

"Friends?" Hermione scoffed. "I've never given Harry or Ron a massage, and they're my best friends."

"Right, well…" Blaise was at a loss for words. Especially when the next thing to happen was an intense liplock between the two "friends".

Hermione inhaled sharply. The boy she had kissed just last night…the boy she thought she could possibly maybe…sort of like, was snogging some beautiful, pureblood Slytherin girl right in front of her very eyes. And it really bothered her. She knew she should look away, but she just couldn't. Even when the kiss ended a few seconds later, and Draco looked up at her, she still couldn't tear her gaze away. His eyes lingered on her for a brief moment, and Hermione could have sworn she saw a bit of remorse in his eyes. However, it was short-lived and he quickly looked away.

When it appeared as though Draco was going in for another kiss with his Slytherin slut, Hermione mumbled to Blaise, "I need to get some air," and without waiting for his response, she exited the pub.

Hermione blinked as the bright afternoon sun hit her face, causing her eyes to water. At least, that's what she wanted to blame the tears on – the sun. But really, she knew better. Turning the corner, she walked alongside the building and stopped.

Calm down, Hermione. Take a deep breath, she told herself. She followed her instructions, but her deep breath came out more like a pathetic sob.

"Granger?" a voice called out to her.

Quickly, Hermione dabbed her eyes dry and turned around, expecting to see Blaise. Instead, she saw…Malfoy.

They stared at each other for what seemed like minutes, before Draco finally said, in a surprisingly soft voice, "Look, what you just saw in there…it's not what you think."

Hermione lifted an eyebrow, and Draco continued, "That girl – I barely know her. She's just…I mean, we're just…and she…the kiss meant nothing."

Much to her chagrin, Hermione felt a great feeling of relief wash over her. Nevertheless, she folded her arms over her chest and said, "Malfoy, why are you telling me this?"

Draco just looked at her, as if he could not think of an answer to her question. Finally, he said, "I don't know. I just…I just needed you to know that."

Hermione took a step forward, closer to him. "But why? Why do you 'need' me to know that?"

She was encouraging him to reveal feelings, and he knew it. And he was afraid he just might if she kept on asking him. And, of course, that fear immediately took over, and he said coldly, "I saw the look on your face when you saw me kiss Sadie. You looked heartbroken. I know you're in love with me, Granger, and we wouldn't want you to go jumping off of the Astronomy Tower because of your unrequited love for me, would we?"

Hermione looked at him in disbelief and shook her head. "You sonofabitch," she mumbled, pushing past him as quickly as she could.

As soon as she'd turned the corner, Draco had grabbed her arm and spun her around. "Wait," he said. "Look, I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry -"

Hermione's eyes widened at the last two words. He looked just as surprised as she did Did Draco Malfoy just apologize to her? She opened to her mouth to speak, but no words came out. They didn't even have a chance to, before somebody in the distance called out to her.

"Mione!" Harry said. He and Ron had just arrived at the Three Broomsticks, and the sight of Draco gripping onto Hermione's arm must have caused them alarm. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," Hermione said numbly. She glanced over at Draco, but he was avoiding her gaze. He dropped her arm.

"Everything's just bloody wonderful, Potter," Draco grumbled. He brushed past the two boys, purposely bumping into Ron in the process. Without so much as a "goodbye" or a glance back, he continued to walk away from them. Hermione was surprised to notice that he wasn't going back inside the pub.

"What did we interrupt?" Ron demanded.

Hermione glared at Ron's nosiness. "As a matter of fact, you just interrupted Malfoy apologizing to me."

Ron and Harry just kind of stared at her for a second, before Ron muttered, "If you don't want to tell us, Hermione, that's fine. But you don't have to lie about it." And with that, the two boys entered the pub.

"Are you coming with us?" Harry asked. He was holding the door open for her.

"No," Hermione replied. "I think I'm just going to go find Ginny."

"Okay," Harry said with a slight frown. "Look, Hermione, Ron and I…we're sorry about not being honest with you, and we're sorry about earlier -"

"Speak for yourself!" Ron cried from inside of the pub.

Harry rolled his eyes, but Hermione smiled. Ron will be Ron. "It's okay, Harry. Really," she said. "Have fun."

Hermione wasn't really going to look for Ginny. She was more interested in following Malfoy, and maybe continuing with their conversation. It was not everyday that Draco Malfoy offered up an apology. And maybe it had just been her imagination, but she thought maybe…just maybe he was trying to tell her something.

Sadie had watched Draco walk away from the table and head out the door, and she was upset. He'd said he needed air, but if that were true, why couldn't he have taken her with him? No…something was up, and she was going to find out what.

So, she'd followed him out the door – just in time to peer around the corner and hear him telling a mudblood - in a pleading voice, no less - about how his kiss with Sadie "meant nothing". The nerve! Their kiss meant nothing? It sure hadn't felt like nothing! Was Draco Malfoy just…using her? Ugh! Not wanting to hear anymore, she'd stomped back into the pub and walked up to the bar.

"What does that mudblood have that I don't?" she muttered to nobody in particular.

"Oh…I don't know. A decent personality, maybe?" said a voice next to her. "And the ability to hold an intelligent conversation?"

Sadie glared over at the boy to her left – Blaise Zabini. "Sod off."

Blaise chuckled. "You know," he said, "you would be surprised to find that when it comes to girls, most boys are looking for more than just a massage and a snog."

Sadie suddenly looked interested. "You mean, like sex?"

Blaise sighed. It would be too much effort to try and explain to someone as shallow as this girl about how there is more to a relationship than just sex. Besides, it would probably ruin his reputation if anyone were to overhear him. He wouldn't want people to think he'd gone soft. So, he responded with, "Yeah…something like that" and walked off, leaving Sadie to sulk all by herself.

"What can I get my first customer of the day?" asked a young woman from behind the counter. Sadie looked up to see a pretty barmaid smiling at her. Sadie glanced at her nametag, which read "Geniva".

"Hey, I know you!" Sadie said to the woman.

Geniva blinked. "You do?"

"Yeah! Well, not really. I mean, I know of you!" Sadie said gleefully. "My sister told me all about you. She was raving about you and your…erm…" She leaned in closer and whispered, "…potions…"

Geniva blushed. "Ahh, your sister was a client of mine?"

Sadie nodded. "Yes. You gave her some special potion to use on the man she was in love with. It worked beautifully, and they've been happily married for over two years now!"

Geniva grinned. "Well that's wonderful! It's always nice to hear my products have done their jobs. Now, can I get you anything?"

"Actually…" Sadie said, as an idea began to form in her head. She leaned forward again. "It's funny I should run into you. I'm a student at Hogwarts, and I'm…um…doing a project for Potions class on, you know, the different types of love potions and stuff. I was wondering if maybe I could have a minute of your time? Perhaps you could give me some information on them? Oh, and if you could possibly give me some samples, that would be great too. The more I can get for this project, the better. Professor Snape's hard to please."

"Don't I know it," Geniva said with a chuckle. "I don't know, though…I don't usually like to give out information about love potions. They're not anything to be meddled with, you know."

"Oh, I know," Sadie said quickly. "Unfortunately, I have no one to use a love potion on, anyway." She gave Geniva her best fake pout. "Look, I will pay you anything -"

"Nonsense!" Geniva said, waving her hand. "I'm not going to charge you for doing research for a school project. Here, why don't you come out back with me, and I'll tell you anything you would like to know. And I've got some of my stock out back as well." She looked over at Markus. "I'm taking a break, okay, Markus?"

Markus scowled and said, "But you just got here!"

Geniva ignored him and motioned for Sadie to follow her.

Sadie did her best to hide an evil grin. Love potions were a girl's best friend – and her best friend was about to get revenge on Draco Malfoy and that mudblood Gryffindor.