Alas, I am posting, suprisingly,on Saturday (I ended up not going to the game.) Anyway, I had a fabulous- but tiring- time in Toronto, Canada this week. It was a ginormous treat to come home and find all these fabulous reviews in my mailbox! A huge thanks to: cathyrock, AngelicOne, Marina Hydroswim (You rock! And yes, I will review yours later today!), skysongscry, Ryan, Orient Fox, LadySimone123, Alli-Baby, ihateharryandhermioneshippers, Rachel, I AM EOWYN,lacatamar, Kitty Weasley, Endless Potential, SilentRaven987,eckles, Emma-Lynn, N.C. PysChick, hermione-gurl787, kitotterkat, goblin mokey, PhoenixWings13, GreenEyes, WhiteRoseDancer, Grim Reaper's Assistant, Lumos2000, the-insufferable-know-it-all, ladyro7, xox.Annie Potter .xox, NicciBubbles, NinitademiBrooke, Lara Potter, MIDNIGHT-PIXIE, waterfaerie15, aishteru, Ayantara, Just some HP reviewer, hrrypttrfan,Huggles4All, suckr4romance, quidditchgirl13, and last, but not least, dancerrdw. Thanks a BUNCH! Just a note: I will be posting on Friday instead of Saturday next weekend, for I am going camping for a week at a state park up north. But never fear, you will have an update on: July 8th, July 15th or 16th, and every Saturday from then on. One question: Will you all continue reading this even after the sixth book comes out? I hope so... :-)

If you would like a wonderful, well-written story, take a peek at my friend Marina Hydroswim's fabulous fic, "The MapleLeaf Summer." There's only one chapter so far, but TRUST me, it's fantastic!

Read, review, and above all else, as usual, ENJOY!

Note: There will be more Ron in later chapters. TRUST ME.

"Relinquish control of your Charms essay right this instant or I will hex you until tomorrow." I pointed my wand right at Draco's neck.

"Easy, Granger," he drawled, moving my wand away with a slender hand.

Granger? There was a loud cough and I saw Justin Finch-Fletchley looking at the two of us with keen interest.

"Am I seeing things wrong, or is Hermione begging Draco Malfoy for his Charms assignment?"

"You're seeing things wrong, mate." Draco performed a nifty little weak Memory Charm on the Hufflepuff and the poor bloke walked away mumbling under his breath.

"That wasn't very nice." I frowned. "Not to mention semi-illegal."

My companion rolled his eyes. "It only wiped his memory for the past five minutes. Don't get your knickers in a twist."

"Well, thank you for saving my reputation," I said grudgingly.

"Any time. Now, if you're going to borrow my two and half feet of parchment, I require you to do something in return."

"Sure, sure. I don't care what it is. Just hand over the assignment!" I cried desperately. This obsession with my marks HAD to stop. I was willing to put myself at the mercy of DRACO MALFOY for one measly grade. PATHETIC.

"You will go along with the plan."

"No bloody way." I paused in the middle of very shamefully using a Cheating spell which copied his words to my parchment and put them in my own handwriting and fixed him with the dirtiest glare I could muster under the circumstances.

"Fine. Then I will just set your piece of parchment on fire. Incend..."

"Don't!" I quickly grabbed the parchment and hid it behind my back.

"Say yes."

"No," I said firmly. "I will NOT agree to your lame-brained scheme."

"Say yes."

"N-no," I stammered, my resolve weakening.

"SAY YES!"

"Yes!" I reluctantly mumbled a second before he Accio-ed the parchment from my hand.

"That's what I like to hear. We will meet at 11:00 tonight in the Room of Requirement. Got that?"

"Got it," I said shakily.

"This essay is absolutely exquisite!" Cassandra cooed. "Have you ever considered working for the Witch Weekly when you graduate? Don't you think she'd be perfect for that job, Ronald?"

"I have MUCH better things to do with my time then write articles for a rubbishy news magazine," I said through gritted teeth, viciously murdering a fly that had chosen most unfortunately to land on my desk with the tip of my quill, all the while pretending that it was a certain b-with-an-itch-of-a-witch.

"But you have true talent," she said in her attempt of earnestly. "It would be a shame to see it go to waste."

"Yes, that would be a shame." There was NO way in Godric she could miss the sarcastic edge to my voice.

"A bloody shame," Harry chimed in from my right. From across the Charms classroom, Draco smirked. Now not only did Cassandra think he was sexy, but also that he had TRUE talent in writing. That was, of course, assuming that she was being honest. As I looked over his words for the first time, I reluctantly concluded that for the first time in her wretched life, the Ice Princess was telling the truth. Draco was almost as good as me. And that was saying A LOT.

"In fact, I reckon that you are superior to even Draco," she continued, as though reading my mind. My eyes widened.

"Good morning, class!" Professor Flitwick squeaked, thankfully ending a certain conversation that was gradually becoming slightly disturbing.

"Good morning, Professor Flitwick!" I said VERY brightly as the vertically challenged wizard passed by me.

"Well, you certainly are in a chipper mood this morning, Miss Granger." He smiled, blue eyes twinkling.

"It's because of her essay, sir," Cassandra piped in sweetly. "It is WONDERFULLY written. I do feel that she ought to read it aloud to the class, to encourage us to work up to her impressive level."

"And excellent idea, Miss Valet. However, why just limit it to Miss Granger? I'm sure Mr. Malfoy's is just as superb as always. Miss Granger? Mr. Malfoy? Would you both please share your essays with the class?"

I shared a quick, desperate look with Draco. What were we going to do NOW? Even though the words and paragraphs were re-arranged a bit on my parchment, they still clearly bore a very strong resemblance to Draco's composition. Something that Flitwick probably wouldn't have noticed when quickly scanning them over and scrawling hopefully an "O" on the top...but hearing the two with his own ears would be a whole different story.

"Actually, sir, that's not so excellent of an idea," I said rather loudly. "You see, I was wondering if we could discuss the dangers of the Fidelus Charm instead."

"Very well, Miss Granger," Professor Flitwick sighed with disappointment, giving me a strange glance. I could feel Cassandra cold blue eyes boring into the back of my head, and I allowed a small, victorious smirk to cross my face. Hermione: 1, Cassandra: 0. The score was in MY favor.

"Bloody Malfoy. If it wasn't for that git, I would NOT be flitting through the corridors at 10:45 at night, risking possible detention or expulsion!" I grumbled to myself from underneath the Invisibility Cloak that I had –er- borrowed. Actually, Harry had been nowhere to be seen when I had slipped into the Gryffindor Tower after detention, so I had just helped myself- chances were, he would never notice.

"If we're caught, you could just say we're doing Prefect duties," a low voice suggested.

"True," I reluctantly agreed, enfolding Draco in the cloak also as we approached the seventh floor corridor. For the third year in a row, both the blond bloke and I had been appointed Prefects- neither of us Head Boy/Head Girl, however. That exalted honor had gone to Justin Finch-Fletchley and Hannah Abott, which had raised many eyebrows-doubly mine. After all, I had reckoned that six years of perfect grades and a nearly flawless discipline record would eventually count for something...but, as usual, Dumbledore had his reasons, as he had explained in a long, detailed letter. "Only problem is, we would NEVER patrol together by our own free will."

"Well, it doesn't really matter, does it?" He pointed to the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy and said quite unnecessarily, "We're here."

"All right. Now remember, concentrate HARD."

"No need to." My mouth dropped open.

"Blimey, you're good," I said in awe.

"Alas, I am good. At many things." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "One of my greatest talents being making secret doors appear instantaneously."

"But not doors that open," I snorted, yanking on the doorknob and my efforts not being rewarded in the least.

"Allow me, Granger." Draco purposely let my last name slip just to bug me. "You, like all witches, are obviously too weak."

"No, allow ME!" I snarled through gritted teeth, trying desperately to keep my temper in check. "Alohomora!" Nothing happened.

"Obviously your attempts have been proven futile. I will demonstrate to you, once again, that males are superior to females. "Attero!" He cried, completely demolishing the doorknob and leaving an apple-sized hole in the spell's wake."

"Impressive," I said dryly. "Defiling Hogwarts property with spells learned from Death Eaters."

"I'm not much one for the rules, as you may know."

"Yes, after spending two days in your endearing company I have certainly concluded that."

"Bloody hell!"

"I gave you a compliment of sorts. No need to direct profanity towards me."

"Look in there," Draco whispered from beneath the cloak he had stolen from my hands. And indeed, I saw a very good reason indeed as to what he found worthy of swearing- in his case, at least. Because through the jagged hole in the door a shirtless Harry and a rumpled-clothing clad Ginny were enjoying quite the heavy snogging session.

"Ginevra Weasley!" I thundered, throwing the door open. "Explain yourself! What in Merlin is going on in here?"

"What does it look like?" the blushing witch mumbled into her boyfriend's muscular-and may I add NAKED?- chest. I heard a derisive snort from my right and prayed fervently that Draco would be able to control himself.

"It looks like YOU TWO," I pointed to each of them in turn, "are out an hour after curfew, engaging in some activities that I'm sure YOUR mother"- I pointed to Ginny- "and not to mention your six brothers would deem inappropriate for a witch of your age."

"You obviously haven't heard what Fred and Angelina did in their sixth year," Ginny informed me. "And Harry and I were just doing a little kissing." Her large, chocolaty brown eyes stared back at me innocently.

"Then why, may I ask, is HARRY'S JUMPER OFF?"

The object-of-Ginny's-snogs, who had been remaining curiously silent until then, spoke up. "I'll have to be blunt about this, Hermione. She ripped it off me in a fit of passion."

"Ginny," I asked sternly, "is this true?"

"Why, HERMIONE!" she said in shock, "I am simply ASTOUNDED! Harry is ALWAYS honest."

"Except for when he lied about fancying you."

"That was an extenuating circumstance."

"And all those times he has withheld information from Dumbledore. And that time he lied to McGonagall about the dragon. And that time..."

"All right," Ginny relented. "He's lied a few times. But 99 percent of the time he's a honest bloke who also happens to be a damn good kisser. I mean..."

"Spare me the details of Harry's bloody brilliant lips which wreak havoc on your senses," I interjected with a groan.

The petite redhead gaped at me.

"How in Godric did you I was going to say that?" she gasped incredulously.

"Because I would use precisely the same words to describe your brother's kissing ability," I said sadly, realizing that it was possible that soon a time would come when I would no longer be able to feel those wonderful lips on mine.

"Ew, ew, EEEWW! I still DO NOT know whatever in Merlin's name you see in that brother of mine. However, he loves you, you love him, and you make the most adorable couple. And I will NOT let that that little slag steal him from you."

"Don't change the subject, young lady," I said half-heartedly, although her proclamation that she was NOT going to let Cassandra take Ron from me made me feel a smidgen better. "How did Harry's shirt leave his upper torso?"

"It's like Harry said." Ginny shrugged. "I really don't understand why you won't believe us, Hermione. Would we lie to you?" One look at her mouth, which was desperately struggling to remain in a neutral line, confirmed my suspicions.

"You are RIDICULOUS," I giggled.

"Why, thank you." She took a mock-bow.

"I have it half in mind to send an owl to your mother straight away and inform her of these shenanigans." I pretended to change my tune and be dead-serious.

"B-but, HERMIONE! Harry and I weren't shagging or anything. And I didn't tear the his jumper off him in a fit of passion- he took it off by himself because he spilled a goblet of pumpkin all over it."

"It was very wet and sticky," Harry added.

I picked up the dark green button-down shirt that Ginny had given him for his birthday, and felt that, indeed, there was a rather large, sticky stain.

"I do think you both know some handy cleaning spells that would've done the job, however."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Oh, give me a break Hermione. It's not like you never desired to see Ron's bare chest when given the opportunity."

"You're making Harry blush."

"Anyway, you are on NO grounds to reprimand Harry and I for our nightly activities, for YOU TOO are out of bed after curfew. May I ask as to why?"

"Er- I was looking for you two!" I said lamely, using the first excuse that came to mind and earning myself a sharp kick on the shins from Draco.

"You're a dreadful liar, Hermione." Ginny straightened the collar on her blouse. "Whenever you fib, your nostrils flare most unbecomingly."

"With mates like you, I have no choice but to remain moral and upstanding," I whined.

"We try our very best. Now, will you answer my question in the next few seconds? I really have to use the loo."

"You too are a terrible fibber. I know you just want to find a deserted place to continue your lip-lock with your dear bloke. Now, instead, why don't we make a deal? You can go and snog his brains out for all I care, and I'll go and conduct my business. No questions asked. Deal?"

"Yes. But first you and I are going to have a LONG chat as to what you are doing out this late at night, for I DON'T SEE MY BROTHER AROUND!"

I gulped. That discussion would certainly venture onto dangerous grounds.

"How about I take a raincheck until tomorrow?" I pleaded desperately as I watched my close friend move closer and closer to me until our noses were almost touching.

"How about NOT?"

"How about.." She stopped mid-sentence, staring at a spot on the carpet beside me. I slowly moved my gaze down, fearing the worst. And the worst it was. Alas, about half of one of Draco's expensive leather shoe-clad feet was peeking out from beneath the cloak. BLOODY HELL!