The Bodyguard
(Rated PG-13 for coarse language, sexual references and mature themes)

Summary: She was the successful, intelligent and influencal Ministry official. He was the trust-funded, but un-employed, handsome playboy. But when Draco Malfoy is hired as Hermione Granger's bodyguard, it's amazing that two people so different (with the hatred of each other to prove it) could fit together so perfectly in the jigsaw puzzle of life.

Disclaimer: While I have no proper one, I'll give it a shot ... The characters Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy and all other people, things, etc affiliated with the world of Harry Potter do not belong to me, but to J.K. Rowling. I am making no profits from this story. Any entertainment programs or movies mentioned do not belong to me. Do not sue me. I own nothing (except for Tammy Harding - she's mine).

THE BODYGUARD

Chapter 4 - Parental Woes and Flying Sparks

It was yet another day in the apartment of Granger. The usually brightly shining sun was covered up by blankets of grey clouds, which were spitting out rain. Outside, it was a cold, miserable day. Definitely not one that somebody would want to leave their nice, warm, cosy beds for the winter like atmosphere.

Speaking of beds ...

Hermione Granger groaned as she rolled over in her own bed. She was half-asleep, and she knew that it was cold outside. It was days like these that Hermione dreaded her job. The closed curtains didn't have yellow buckets of sunlight spilling through them. There was barely any light at all.

The alarm clock on her bedside table clicked to 06.30 and once again started yelling.

"Get up, you miserable cow! I don't care if it's practically the North Pole out there; GET UP, YOU LAZY BUGGER!' it yelled through its speaker holes. Hermione moaned and opened her dry mouth.

"Shut up, you stupid piece of crap," she said, sitting up in bed.

"Hmph! There's no need for name calling - that's just plain rude." the alarm clock said before silencing completely. Hermione rubbed her forehead and ignored it.

"I have absolutely no idea why I don't throw that thing out." Hermione said to herself, yawning. She felt drowsy and slow-witted.

"Neither do I." a voice said next to her.

'Oh dear God,' Hermione thought, her eyes suddenly becoming the size of saucepans. 'I've gone insane and now I'm hearing voices.'

"Thanks for last night, Granger." the voice continued, dripping with sarcasm. It was probably then that Hermione realized that she hadn't gone insane. It was just a bad nightmare. A very bad and twisted nightmare.

The blanket was twisted and crinkled. The bed sheets were worn. Hermione gulped as her slow mind tried desperately to figure out who the owner of the mystery voice was. Her eyes decided to start at the foot of the bed and travelled from there. Two crossed legs. A stomach. A chest. A neck. An ugly and unfortunately very familiar face.

How would you have reacted; if you saw Draco Malfoy lying next to YOU in YOUR bed with elegantly messy hair and only in pyjamas? Well Hermione did what any other sane and intelligent Gryffindor would have done: she screamed and then jumped out of bed.

"AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!" Draco jumped up from bed as well and started screaming at her.

"AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!" Draco screamed at Hermione.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Hermione yelled.

"WELL, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Draco yelled back, wondering why he was screaming. He was, after all, the one who had started this.

"THIS IS MY BED!" Hermione shouted back.

"WHY ARE WE SCREAMING SO MUCH?" Draco shouted.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Hermione screamed, frantic.

"WHY DON'T WE JUST STOP?" Draco screamed as well.

"OK!" Hermione said. They both stopped.

Hermione cleared her now hoarse throat. She glared at him and crossed her arms.

Draco scowled at Hermione with a hint of a mischievous look on his face.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Hermione asked. She wanted answers, and she demanded that get them.

"I think about a lot of things. Like for instance, last night I was thinking about fuc--"

"Drop dead, Malfoy." Hermione cut in dryly. "Answer my question: What were thinking when you decided to jump into my bed?"

"I told you; I think about a lot of things." Draco said smugly.

"Well," Hermione said, expecting an apology. She deserved one after all; then again, who wouldn't deserve an apology after they found that ... THING on their bed?

"Well, what?" Draco asked.

"Apologize!" Hermione demanded.

"For what, exactly?" Draco loved to get Hermione angry; and this morning was no exception.

"For goodness' sake, Malfoy!" Hermione spat. "I go to sleep ALONE and then I wake up and find YOU there, of all people!"

"Just because we have animal magnetism doesn't mean that I have to apologize." Draco hmphed.

"Oh, please!" Hermione rolled her eyes. "You might as well have woken me up in the middle of the night and shook me senseless before yelling 'I'm here so I can piss you off in the morning!' "

"You're no master of subtlety yourself, you know!" Draco argued. Oooh, this was fun!

"What do you mean by that?" Hermione asked, half indignant and half curious. Draco closed his eyes and started snoring. Hermione's mouth fell open. "I do not snore!"

"Yes you do. It's not really that easy to sleep when you're awoken at 3am in the morning to what you think is Gabriel's Trumpet." Draco said.

"I don't sound like Gabriel's Trumpet!" Hermione protested.

"Not now, you don't. Oh, wait --"

"URGH! Just ... go away and eat or something!"

"Ooh, touchy on the subject?"

"NO! I mean ... no ..."

"Want to get touchy on something else, then?"

"To the kitchen. Now."

"Whatever you say --"

"Thank you!"

"--Mistress ..."

"Hanging on by a thread Malfoy; a thread!"

"Then what are you hanging onto sanity with?"

"Something thicker than a thread,"

"How thick, exactly?"

"If you don't be quiet, I'll have to shove you in the freezer."

"Ahh, some more of that hands-on experience, eh?"

DING DONG!

Hermione and Draco both instantly shut up.

"Hermione? Are you there, love?" a female voice wafted through. Hermione's eyes widened.

"Oh, shit!" she said, pulling her hair back.

"What?" Draco asked.

"It's my mother." she replied. Draco smirked.

"Not big on the maternal types?"

"I love my mother actually," Hermione said primly. "That's an emotion that I wouldn't expect you to know."

"I've gotten variations of it." Draco shrugged.

"Hermione?" the voice called again. Only Hermione Granger's mother would come to visit her daughter at 6.30am in the morning. Draco went to open the door, but Hermione grabbed his arm.

"Don't answer the door." she said in a threatening tone.

"And why ever not, Grangie?" Draco asked; smugness in his tone.

"I'm not letting my mother see you!" Hermione said. "She already thinks that I'm having a love affair with Harry."

"But you are,"

Hermione groaned and opened her mouth. "Coming, mum! I've just got to ... pack something away."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "Where would this be?" Hermione spun him around and pushed him into the general direction of a closed door, must to the protests of Draco. "What are you - Get off of me!"

"Funny; I would have thought that this was some kind of 'hands-on' experience that you were expecting." Hermione grumbled as she opened the door, revealing stacks of spare towels and manchester.

"A closet?" Draco said incredulously. "Oh, no! I'm NOT going into a fucking closet, Granger!"

"Watch the language," Hermione said as she attempted to stuff Draco into the small space. "You're going into the closet. If my mum saw you walking around my house, then she'd think that we're ..."

"All the more reason to stay." Draco smirked. "I don't believe that I've met your mother formally before, Granger."

"And I intend for it to stay that way." Hermione remarked, trying again to stuff him into the closet.

"Well if you want me out of the way, you could have just asked me; instead of trying to stuff me into this tiny space." Draco dusted himself down.

"You don't deserve to be asked." Hermione replied, pointing at the space. "Get in."

"Hermione, do you need any help with that?" Her mother's voice interrupted. "You seem to be taking a while."

"No, mother, that won't be necessary." Hermione said. Then with one quick movement, she managed to shove Draco entirely into the bottom space of the closet and then closed the door before locking it.

"I don't think that this is the best time for me to tell you that I'm claustrophobic." Draco's voice echoed from inside.

"You're claustrophobic?" Hermione asked, mostly in agitation.

"It means that I don't --"

"Look; just sit there, be paranoid and keep quiet. I'm letting my mother in."

"Do you do this to all your guests?" Draco's voice asked.

"Only to the pompous ass ones," Hermione replied as she walked to the door. "Mother! How are you?"

Hermione's mother was a tall, curly haired, average looking woman who was in her 40's. Just like Hermione, She had taken advantage of her willingness and eagerness to learn by studying dental surgery. But she had managed to balance her career with a stable love life; she had met her husband through dental work, and now they both operated the same dentistry as well as both working in it.

Hermione both admired and loved her mother, mainly because she was quite level-headed and logical; teaching Hermione right from wrong but also letting her make her own decisions.

"I'm fine, darling." her mother smiled good-naturedly. Then her face became confused. "Are you alright? I thought I heard that you were talking to someone in here. You seemed to be having some sort of argument."

Even though her mum was still wonderful, she loved a good gossip at heart and had a rather irritating nature of sticking her head into other people's business and then proceeding to pry. Oh well; not everyone can be perfect.

"Hm? Oh, no! I was just ... on the phone." Hermione fabricated quickly.

"Oh, ok," her mother smiled. Hermione sensed that she wasn't quite buying it.

"To Harry." she added. "He er ... h-had a problem with ..." Hermione's eyes desperately scanned her surroundings for inspiration. She spotted a jar of olives sitting on the table; obviously Draco had gotten peckish a few days before and had left it there.

"Yes?" Mrs Granger prompted.

"Olives," Hermione blurted out, nodding her head rapidly. Her mother looked at her slightly incredulously.

"Olives?" Mrs Granger repeated.

"Yeah," Hermione said anxiously. Then a thought struck her. "He's broken up with his girlfriend; Olivia. She left him for a guy called Oliver."

"Oh dear; poor Harry!" Hermione's mum sympathized. She shook her head. "Is he OK?"

"He's making it." Hermione replied. She could see the little wheels turning in her mother's head.

"So HE broke up this Olivia character?" asked her mother in what she hoped was a subtle way.

"I think it was mutual." Hermione shrugged. She didn't really need to mention to her mother that Olivia had managed to transfigure all of Harry's belongings into cow dung, did she?

"Does that mean that Harry thought that it wasn't working out?" Mrs Granger asked non-chalantly as she ran a finger over one of Hermione's tables.

"Where are you getting at?" Hermione sighed. Her mother faked a look of shock.

"Whatever do you mean, Hermie, dear?"

"Where is this conversation going?"

"I was just wondering - in the lightest and most respectful manner - if Harry broke up with Olivia because of ..."

"Me?" Hermione prompted.

"Hermione; you're an attractive girl! You're smart, witty, talented and so many other things!" her mother said, slyly avoiding the topic at hand. "I was just thinking that maybe ... MAYBE - What was that?"

Mrs Granger had been interrupted by a noise which was a combination of scoffing and snorting. It had come from some area near Hermione's bedroom. Hermione closed her eyes, quietly slapped her forehead and swore under her breath.

"It was probably nothing, mum." Hermione said, walking in the opposite direction to her kitchen.

"Are you sure?" Janice asked, looking warily at the bedroom. "It didn't sound like it was nothing."

"Don't worry. I just have a ... PEST problem, that's all." Hermione smiled, opening the fridge door and fishing out some milk. "Would you like some?"

"No, thank you, dear," her mum said as she watched Hermione make herself some cereal. "I've already eaten and I've got to get to the surgery. We're expecting some equipment to arrive today, and those delivery people said that it can come between 6.30 to 9.30. I'll see you later honey bunny." she went over to Hermione and kissed her on the cheek.

"Bye, Mum." Hermione said, scooping some cereal into her mouth. She watched Janice pause in the direction of Hermione's bedroom. "What's wrong?"

"The closet door - it just opened by itself." Mrs Granger said, eyeing the door suspiciously.

"Don't worry, Mum, that door's loose." Hermione said. Her mother looked at her doubtfully. "Look; if it worries you that much, I'll walk you to the door." Her mother agreed and they both walked to the front door.

"That was so silly of me," Mrs Granger laughed. "I think I'm paranoid."

"Maybe," Hermione winked, closing the closet door forcefully.

"Well, goodbye!" Mrs Granger opened the door.

CREAK.

The closet door had opened again and Hermione could hear the faintest sound of Draco chuckling.

"I told you, dear!" Mrs Granger said, retreating outside, looking at the door.

"And I told you, mum, the door is just really loose!" Hermione insisted. "It's just missing a few screws up there." she muttered to herself.

CREAK.

The closet door closed itself with a click. Mrs Granger jumped.

"I think I'll just ..." Hermione's mum pointed at the elevator.

"Nice seeing you again!" Hermione called out chirpily. The closet door opened and then closed.

"You too!" Mrs Granger stepped into the elevator and the doors closed. Instantly, Hermione's bright and happy face was replaced by an angry one as she closed her own door. She went to the closet and pulled the door open.

"What did you think you were doing?" Hermione asked fiercely as she met the image of Draco sitting cross-legged on the floor, smirking up at her.

"Creating some sound effects." Draco shrugged, getting out from underneath the space and dusting himself off. "You better clean down there sometime soon, Granger. Any more bacteria and a new civilisation will be created down there."

"Then why don't you stay down there?" Hermione shot back, picking up her bowl of cereal. "I'm sure that they'll need a supreme leader."

"Ouch, that hurt, Granger," Draco said, feigning a blow to the heart. "Where did you learn to insult like that?"

"I've had plenty of practise with a very worthy victim," Hermione gave Draco a toothy smile and spooned some cereal into her mouth.

"Speaking of which, where IS the Weasel?" Draco asked, looking around Hermione's apartment as if expecting Ron to jump out from behind the couch and shout 'Here I am!' Draco looked back at Hermione, whose face was hard and cold. She set down her bowl.

"I'm going to the bathroom," Hermione said.

"Was it something I said?" Draco asked to nobody in particular.

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Hermione ignored Draco for the rest of the day. It wasn't really his fault that he didn't know that Ron was around anymore, but Hermione somehow expected for him to already know. Besides, it was easier to stay angry at Draco than to apologize to him.

'Where IS Ron, anyway?' Hermione thought to herself as she forcefully dragged her quill across the paper.

'How would I know?' a little voice inside of her head asked.

'Yeah, it's not like he left a note explaining his absence or anything.' the other little voice said.

'It's definitely not your fault, dear.' the first voice reassured.

'Oh, now that's a different topic,' the second voice said. 'I don't see how this ISN'T her fault.'

'We all make mistakes.' the first voice said lightly.

'I didn't say that she has never made one in her entire life.' the second voice said defensively. 'I'm just saying that by this mistake that she made, Ron left. And it doesn't look like he's returning anytime soon, either. Therefore, it's her fault.'

'Don't be so harsh!' the first voice said, coming to Hermione's rescue.

'But you don't disagree with me?' the second voice asked triumphantly.

'Well ...'

"Shut up!" Hermione said out loud, instantly shutting up both voices. It was a good thing that she had sent Draco out to so-and-soingly shag Tammy. If he had stayed, it was certain that he would have said something snide or nasty.

"Do you have a problem with us two talking?" Harry's voice wafted through the door.

"Er ... n-no!" Hermione cried out. "I just ... received an owl."

"And you said 'shut up' when you got it?" Harry asked, confused.

"Um ... yeah." Hermione said weakly. "It's a way of showing that you're shocked or surprised."

"And when has this happened?" Harry pressed on.

"In a movie." Hermione said, feeling rather guilty about lying again that day. "One of those American ones." Well it was true. Hermione vaguely remembered seeing another one of those teenage movies with her 13-year-old niece. She couldn't really remember the title of the movie, but she did remember something about a pretty blonde girl confusing butter as a carb.

"Right." Harry said, before continuing his conversation.

Hermione sighed warily and then looked down at the filing she had been doing before. She decided to read over it.

'Hopefully that will get mind off of Ron.' she thought, picking up the paper.

Employee No: 9327539

Full name: Harding, Ronald

Duties: Secretary for Head of Department of Magical Law Enforcement, being a total asshole and walking out on his two best friends without telling anyone.

Address: 277 Jerk Lane, London

Phone Number: SHUT UP, YOU STUPID VOICES!

Employed: Never. Ron was always incompetent and always will b

Hermione groaned in sorrow and scrunched up the paper. The waste paper bucket came over and gobbled it up.

She really needed a holiday.

Harry decided that he would join Hermione and Draco that day for lunch. Draco had obviously protested and let out a string of remarks about Harry having a pothead and such, but in the end he relented, mainly because Hermione was his employer in a way.

The three of them sat down in the newly opened Sparks Will Fly restaurant in Diagon Alley. Hermione and Harry had ordered a foccacia for the sake of a proper lunch, but Draco had ordered a devils food cake.

"Aren't you going to eat anything decent?" Hermione asked Draco, reminding herself vaguely of her mother.

"I choose what I eat, whenever I want." Draco said. He would have stuck out his tongue if he could. "Besides, this is decent."

"No it's not." Hermione persisted. "It's cake, Malfoy! Who eats cake for lunch?"

"I do." Draco replied.

"Wow, this must be the aristocratic tastes in food coming through then, eh?" Harry asked; an innocent smile on his face. Draco scowled at him and Harry smiled pleasantly back.

"Careful where you stick your nose, Potter." Draco warned.

"I haven't stuck my nose in anywhere, thank you very much." Harry replied primly, taking a sip from his glass of water.

"And that's precisely where it will stay." Draco ordered.

Harry humphed and then took another sip of water. Hermione had ignored all of this (she had grown accustomed to it) and decided to study her surroundings.

The restaurant created a nice mod with its warm orangey-brown colour. It was furnished with wood and had sensible looking chandeliers hanging from its roof (Hermione wasn't sure if chandeliers could ever be sensible, but for some reason she thought that those ones were). There were numerous chairs and tables, all of which were a rich dark chocolate colour. Everything (with the possible exception of the walls and the paintings which hung off of the wall) seemed to be polished and sparkling.

The atmosphere around the restaurant was a busy one. It was lunch time, and all the hungry business women and men and other various creatures had come out for fresh air and some food. Some plump men were laughing in a jolly manner with each other. Five business women seemed to be toasting to a new job. There were even a few children joining their parents for a nice lunch. It seemed like a nice, friendly place to be, even though it might have been a more expensive than the Leaky Cauldron. Then all of a sudden, Hermione saw a suspicious looking character in a black bowler hat and large overcoat looking subtly at her. They were reaching into their jacket pocket and pulling out their wand. Then they raised the wand and opened their mouth to fire a spell.

"WATCH OUT!" Harry and Draco had cried at the same time. They both lunged at Hermione, but only Harry managed to tackle her to the ground. Draco had simply jumped and missed, letting out an "OOF!" when he landed on the ground.

"Stupefy!" Harry cried out, firing the spell with his wand which he had grabbed in less than a second. The red jet of light sped out and went straight for the character. But a waiter had stepped in front of him, unaware of all the action. The spell ricocheted off of a freshly washed dinner plate and then flew back into the direction of Harry.

"Yargh!" Harry ducked under the table to join a sore Hermione.

True to his bad timing, Draco decided to join in on the action and consequently got hit with the stunning spell. He fell right down onto the ground. Well, actually, not quite on the ground. He had fallen right on top of Hermione.

"So much for bodyguard." Hermione mumbled as she managed to shove Draco's cheek off of her forehead.

The entire restaurant was now in a frenzy. Waiters were hiding under tables with equally scared consumers. Children were crying and people were screaming.

"Expelliarmus!" the character's wand flew out of their hand and landed on the plate of one of the jolly plump men.

"Now, really!" the man said from underneath the table.

"Hello to you too, Potter," the character growled, adjusting his bowler hat.

Since practically everyone knew who Harry was, Harry barely even flinched at all. Instead, he raised his arm and went to fire another spell.

"You know, I would react like this too if I saw a suspicious looking guy staring at Hermione," the person continued, emitting a hoarse and hacking laugh. He flicked his bowler hat upwards to reveal one normal eye and another sinisterly revolving one. Harry let his arm flop down.

"Mad-Eye?" Harry asked, shocked, suspicious and incredulous at the same time.

"Got it in one," Mad-Eye said, walking over to their table.

The rest of the people in the restaurant had managed to calm down. The waiters had come up from underneath the tables, the children had stopped crying and the people seemed to realize that everything was going to be alright.

After a few minutes, things started going back to normal. The same warm atmosphere took over again and the chatter grew.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked.

"I came to say hello ... and other things." Mad-Eye said dismissively, sitting down. He put his wand back into his cloak with his gnarled hand. "What's that?" Mad-Eye looked underneath the table to find the stunned figure of Draco Malfoy lying next to a stirred, but fine Hermione, who was rubbing her head.

"Mad-Eye Moody!" Hermione cried, getting up and ignoring Draco. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, Granger. Retirement's a good life." Mad-Eye said gruffly. He gestured to Draco. "What's he doing here?"

"He's my bodyguard," Hermione sighed unhappily. Both of Mad-Eye's eyes widened and the magical one rolled down to peer at Draco.

"No offense, Granger, but you did a pretty crappy job if you hired him," Mad-Eye growled.

"Oh, trust me, if I was hiring in the first place, my first order would have been to have Malfoy incarcerated." Hermione said, resuming rubbing her head. "Or castrated."

Mad-Eye let out his hoarse laugh again and Hermione smiled weakly.

"What are you doing here?" Harry repeated.

"I told you; I came to say hello and other things." Mad-Eye replied.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"I mean --" Mad-Eye reached into his overcoat and pulled out two envelopes, simply titled 'Harry' and 'Hermione' respectively, "-- this."

"What's that?" Harry eyed both letters apprehensively.

"A letter. For each of you," Mad-Eye said, pointing out the obvious.

"Who's it from?" Hermione asked, eyeing the letters in the same fashion as Harry.

"I don't know," Mad-Eye replied truthfully. "All I know is that when I got it, there was a letter attached to it saying to give it to you."

"Do you think it's dangerous?" Harry asked.

"At this point, I think the only thing dangerous about it is what's written in it." Mad-Eye said. "I stripped it clean, searching for any hexes or anything. It's clean."

Hermione's heart was beating. She had a very strange feeling about this letter. It didn't look dangerous at all, but as Mad-Eye had put it, the only thing dangerous about this letter would have been its contents. She took it with trembling hands.

Harry had also taken his, and was now attempting to open it. No such luck.

"You can't open it," Mad-Eye said, watching Harry struggling.

"No, I'm sure I can make it --" Harry said, wriggling the paper.

"No, the letter that came with it said that you can't open it until it allows you too." Mad-Eye said, shoving Draco a little bit with his foot.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, holding the letter up into the light to try and read what was in it.

"I think the letter will let itself open when it wants you to open it." Mad-Eye answered, looking at Harry's glass of water before pulling out his hip flask and drinking from it.

"Do you have any idea of what's in it?" Harry asked, mimicking Hermione.

"Not a clue," Mad-Eye said. "But I do think that maybe the information in it is destructive at this time. Why else would it only let you open it when the time is right? I advise that you be careful with that."

"Thanks, Mad-Eye," both Harry and Hermione said.

"No problem," Mad-Eye waved his gnarled hand unimportantly.

"Now who's up for some lunch?" Hermione asked, smiling warmly as her foccacia arrived and trying to shove the envelope and its contents into the back of her mind.

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That night after dinner, Hermione sat down on her bed. Draco had come to long ago, muttering something about getting an aspirin for his hangover. It was a good thing for portkeys, otherwise Hermione would have been forced to take Draco home by taxi, or by floo; a mode of travel that Hermione had often disliked.

Hermione turned the envelope over in her hands. Curiosity often got the best of her, but in this case, Hermione didn't have the option of opening the letter. Not yet anyway.

She sighed for about the fifth that day and then stuffed the letter into her nightstand before sliding into bed. She didn't want to think about the letter at all. It would have been easier if it hadn't existed at all, but Hermione knew she had to face the music.

Who was it from? What was in it? Why did it come now and through Mad-Eye Moody? Why did it probably have something to do with Ron?

Hermione turned over in bed and groaned, as if the noise would hopefully smother her thoughts and let her think about something else.

'Maybe there was something good in the letter,' Hermione thought. 'Maybe not.'

Rolling back over to the nightstand, Hermione raised her arm and then turned off the light.

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A/N: Another chapter for all! Hopefully you liked reading it as much as I liked writing it!

Oooohhh ... what's in the letter? Is it good? Is it bad? Well, you'll just have to wait until the next chapter. ;)

My apologies if the chapter was shorter than usual - I was supposed to be studying for my Maths yearly, but I decided to take a break - which ended up going for 2 hours. Oops?

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to all my lovely reviewers! Every single review counts and every review makes a difference. It makes writing this story worth it. You are all truly special!

And what happens to truly special people? Why, they get rewarded! So, a big huggle and a chocolate truffle to these people: thehopeconspiracy, tRuE2U, MissMills, SlytherinSweetie, CinderBrat, Panther's-Princess, Meg, Callie, NitenGale, EmeraldFlame, inks, mionedracoshipper, BoredCoed (who gets two, one for reviewing chappie 1, and one for reviewing chappie 2), insanemaniac, Jexi, alien726, IceCrystal and Han.

Thank you so very much! Oh, and by the way, a truffle is '1. an underground fungus, considered a delicacy' -- er ... I mean ... '2. a round soft sweet, usually with a chocolate flavour'. That's the one!

I think that for the reviewers of this chapter, that everyone who reviews gets a slice of pizza (vegetarian or meatlovers; you guys can choose)! This gives you guys even more reason to review like crazy people! Mm ... pizza ...

Please excuse me if the next chapter doesn't come in a week's time. It's the worst week this week, with every single day (except for Tuesday, 2nd November) being packed. But amidst all the Maths and P.D./H/P.E. yearlies, is my ... (drum roll, if you will!) BIRTHDAY! Luckily, it's on Tuesday, so there's no scary test to haunt me. I expect a lot of birthday wishes :), since I AM turning something-teen. Hey; my age is something for me to know and you to find out. ;)

Your devoted fanfiction writer,

--Look at moiye, ploise!--