Teehee! I'm VERY happy that so many of you awesome reviewers stuck around and continued reading this story, even after the sixth book came out :-). I would like to thank those 37 WONDERFUL people who left very uplifting, encouraging comments on Chapter 10: SafetyXPins,silktophat, Angel-4rom-heaven, kitotterkat, AragornLover, xPussyWillowKittenx, Sing-my-heart-out, GreenEyes, bluewaterdemoness, EponineWeasley, Aqb dk, MrsPadfootVerona, mywrldmyrulez, the-insufferable-know-it-all, FairyKisses, Kitty Weasley KW, God..., KrAzYLiKeAFoX, goblin monkey, SilentRaven987, MAGSTER, aliecat, Elemental Water Mistress, True Slytherin Witch, sailorstarryeyes, N.C. PysChick, NicciBubbles, Eowyn Organa, dancerrdw, aishteru, Lara Potter,HiddenSmile, AngelicOne, RandomSmirf13, skysongcry, quidditchgirl13, and last, but certainly not least, NinitademiBrooke! You guys all ROCK!

Hmmm...well, there's not much to say except for how appreciative I am of you guys and gals whoare still enjoying this story, even though it's terribly AU...! Again, thank you VERY MUCH!

I will dedicate the next chapter to the 500th reviewer, whoever he or she may be! So as usual, read, review, and ENJOY!

"Keep your voice down, Ginny," I said rather crossly

"No, I think I'm going to keep on speaking at the same volume," she snapped.

"B-b-but Harry and Ron! They might hear us!" I whispered.

"Ron has been asleep for ages. Harry went up to bed about ten minutes ago. There's unfortunately no one in the Common Room to hear your bloody excuses except for me. Now, WHERE WERE YOU?"

"I am under no obligation to answer you, for this is a violation of my privacy."

"Don't dance around the issue, Hermione. It makes you look guilty. Which, by the way, you darn are! What took you SO LONG? Having too much fun snogging Ferret Boy?"

A lovely bright red blush very quickly rose on my face, confirming Ginny's suspicions.

"I am anxiously awaiting yet another clever excuse concerning your association with our favorite Death Eater."

I threw my hands up in despair.

"Why should I even attempt to explain the whole story to you? It's so ludicrous that you won't believe me!"

"Try me," Ginny practically growled.

I took a deep breath. "Fine. After you and Harry left, with the Invisibility Cloak, I may remind you, Draco and I began sneaking down the hallway back to our dormitories."

"Together?"

"Yes, together! We didn't have much of a choice."

"Hmmpphh..."

"However, we soon realized that Snape and McGonagall were headed our way!"

"So, you did the first logical thing that would come to mind and immediately pretended that you were doing Prefect rounds."

"With Draco Malfoy? At half-past eleven? You know as well as I do, Ginny, that even Prefects can't walk around the school that late."

The petite redhead scowled.

"Having no other choice, Draco dragged me into the nearest broom closet."

"How convenient. But you resisted, I assume?"

I gave her the evil eye.

"You didn't!" My close friend gasped incredulously. "You actually got in a broom closet with DRACO MALFOY?"

"As difficult as that may be to believe, I certainly did, seeing as I didn't fancy being given a year's worth of detention from Snape and McGonagall."

"True." came her very reluctant voice.

"Anyway," I continued, "Draco and I heard a very interesting discussion about Professor McGonagall's love life, Snape's lack thereof, and the presumption that you and Harry shag. But there's not need to discuss that. After all, I highly doubt you will believe any word that comes out of my mouth. So why should I waste my time?"

"Me and Harry- shagging?" Ginny sputtered, her face a flaming red.

My mouth dropped open, and in a fairly good imitation of Ginny, if I say so myself, I gasped incredulously. "YOU DIDN'T!"

"I did..." Ginny began, dropping her red head in shame...

"Bloody hel..."

"n't! But I have considered it before...wait, why am I telling you this?" The youngest Weasley said angrily, pointing a finger accusingly in my direction. "You purposely made me digress from our very important topic of discussion."

I rolled my eyes. "It was you, not I, who digressed. However, would you like me to continue?"

"Obviously," she snapped.

"So, Draco and I were commenting on the conversation..."

"That's exactly what I would do in a situation like that," Ginny said very sarcastically. "I mean, voices NEVER alert one to your presence."

"...When I accidentally said, 'you're extremely daft' in a rather loud voice, and of course, Snape just HAD to hear it. It was hilarious- McGonagall thought he was hallucinating!"

"I'm sure it was most amusing. Really wish I could've been there."

"Then Snape, with a growing suspicion, decided to throw open the closet door. Having all of five seconds to concoct a plan, Draco performed a nifty little spell that gave me coal-black hair...

"Cassandra," Ginny whispered with barely-concealed hate.

"Yes, Cassandra," I sighed. "I have to admit, it was quite enjoyable, pretending to be that little slag."

"What happened next?" The sister of the object of my affections breathed.

I fought back a grin. It almost seemed as though Ginny was kinda hanging onto my every word- which indicated that there was a chance she actually believed me. Either that or my tale was rather enthralling.

"H-h-he kissed me," I winced as Ginny studied my face with an odd sort of expression. "B-but I didn't kiss back! Trust me! It was all an act on both of our parts."

"Is he a good kisser?" The beautiful witch asked in a strangled sort of voice.

"Well, yes," I admitted, furrowing my brow at her reaction to that news. "Er, I don't mean to push my luck or anything, but just one minute ago you looked as though you fancied using your infamous "Bat-Bogey hex" on me. And now you're asking about Draco's kissing ability?"

"I've been watching your nostrils closely- and they weren't flaring," she said calmly, still staring at me. "Which means you were telling the honest-to-Godric truth- the whole time!"

"I'm glad my nostrils are good for something." I let a small smile work its way across my face.

"Give me details," suggested Ginny casually. "Answering "yes" to my question of 'is he a good kisser?' does not suffice!"

"This is coming from the same girl who was about to murder me on the spot from just FRATERNIZING with Draco? For Merlin's sake, I don't think you DESERVE to hear the details."

"Oh, you'll tell me," the petite redhead said cheerfully, "Or else I will inform my dear brother of just what you do when he's in bed."

"Are you blackmailing me, Ginevra Weasley?" I frowned.

"Of course." Her smile widened as she leaned forward. "Now share with me all the juicy things.."

I still wasn't convinced at her sudden change. "You're going to use this against me, somehow." I folded my arms across my not-so-voluptuous chest (GRRR! I am 17 years old and still waiting for that bloody chest of mine to stop being so darn stubborn and actually GROW, so I will not longer hold the nickname of "Boobless Bookworm"-created by Pansy Parkinson in the fifth year).

"Hermione, I thought I made this clear. Yes, I was mad when you first came into the Common Room, but as the story came out- with no flaring nostrils-, I realized that you only pulled that charade because you REALLY, REALLY had to. And the same goes for associating with Malfoy. Period. Desperate times call for desperate measures, as that old saying goes. And also, if this makes you feel any better, if Malfoy pulled ME into a broom closet and was forced to kiss me as a cover, I sure as hell wouldn't be putting up any resistance!"

"Me either," an amused voice piped in. I whirled around, and to my utter horror saw a figure lurking in one shadowy corner. A figure with a head full of beautiful, curly, coal-black hair...which could only mean one person...

Parvati. Wait.. Parvati? I couldn't believe that fate had actually dealt me a good hand. The first time for 5 hours!

"P-parvati!" I sputtered. "What did you do to your hair? And I'm going to kick your sorry arse in about five seconds!"

"Oh, you thought I was Cassandra for a minute there, didn't you?" She smirked, perfectly reading my mind. "I began to get very, very, VERY bored up in the dormitory, because you seemed to be taking an awfully long time to return from detention, so I experimented with some new spells on my hair. Do you like it?"

"It makes you look like that b-with-an-itch-of-a-witch," I grumbled. "And you honestly didn't have to wait up for me."

"Ah, it was no problem." She waved her hand with a flourish. "I couldn't fall asleep anyway- I was having this VERY steamy daydream about Dean..."

Ginny snorted. "I should warn you beforehand, Parvati, that's Dean's rubbish at kissing."

"There's no WAY he can be anything short of wonderful," the Indian beauty pouted. "With those big pouty lips..."

I pretended to gag. "Let's please refrain from discussing the lips of any blokes right now," I begged.

Ginny flashed me a sly grin. "Hermione's still in shock from a bit of a shocking, rare experience she just had. She lowered her voice drastically. "She was kissed by Draco Malfoy!"

"Bloody," Parvati breathed, staring at me in wonder. "You got to feel Malfoy's lips on your own?"

"Yes, yes," I yawned, as thought it was nothing. "I don't see what the big deal is."

"The big deal, Hermione," she began earnestly, "is that no Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw girl of any year has EVER been had the pleasure of being snogged by Malfoy!"

"So?" I snickered under my breath, for I knew fully well what she was speaking of. Even though I always had my nose buried in books whenever I was around those two in previous years, I had half-paid attention to their sometimes VERY enlightening discussions pertaining to (what else?) but blokes! And hot blokes in particular. Such as Malfoy from fourth year on.

"So?" My door-mate mimicked. "I don't think you understand! You have done something that no one in three houses has ever done! You're not leaving this room until both Ginny and I get some details. And when I say details, I MEAN detailed DETAILS!"

"First, before I say anything, I am putting a Silencing Charm on the Common Room so certain people will not overhear us." I waved my wand and conjured the charm quite efficiently. "Then, I will ask you Parvati, that instead of a lecture of how I should only let my boyfriend kiss me, I am sensing wild enthusiasm emanating from you?"

"Because I know you would never let ANY other bloke than Ron do something like that unless you were in a VERY sticky situation. And when I mean sticky, I mean VERY sticky."

"Does about to be discovered by both McGonagall and Snape, sitting quite cozily on his lap in a broom closet count as sticky?"

"Definitely!" She shrieked, practically bouncing out of her seat (a red and gold armchair). All I can say is that Parvati gets a smidgen too excited when it comes to hearing about other people's romantic adventures.

I spent the next five minutes summarizing the whole story to her, for I had resigned myself to the fact that if I didn't tell her now, she'd bug me at the most inappropriate moment (i.e., in earshot of Ron!).

"Bloody brilliant," the elder Patil twin sighed after I had got to the point where Draco smashed his mouth against mine.

"Well yes, it was," I admitted. "But not nearly as nice as Ron's kisses- because his are actually full of pure, true love."

There was a resounding chorus of, "awes."

"It's TRUE," I said rather defensively. "While he does indeed have a talented mouth, nothing beats Ron. Nothing. Nothing at all. Wouldn't you say the same?"

"Well, I can't say I would agree with that," Parvati giggled, "seeing as I have neither been kissed by Malfoy or Ron. However, I would place my bets on that darn sexy Slytherin as to who would make my head spin."

"I can't say I would agree with that either, seeing as I don't fancy having an incestuous relationship with my brother." Ginny looked rather ill at the mere thought of that. "However, no matter how experienced that git of a prat is, nothing beats my Harry." Her deep brown eyes took on a rather dreamy expression at that.

"Oh, puh-lease," Parvati made a noise of disgust. "I just have to be talking to two love-sick bimbos..."

My temper flared immediately. "Do not call me a BIMBO!" I hissed. "You may address me by any other name, but NOT BIMBO! Call me "Boobless Bookworm," even. Just not BIMBO! I don't want to be associated with the likes of that piece of vermin!"

Ginny did a rather impressive Umbridge impression- so realistic that in fact Parv and I each jumped about five feet in the air.

"Ladies, ladies, ladies," she tutted sadly. "This is not getting us anywhere."

"Correct. That, I think, is an indication that we should all go to bed." I rose to my feet, and just as I was about to start the interminable journey up the Girl's Staircase...

"Pajama party, eh?" Came a low male voice. One that did NOT sound too happy. Not happy AT ALL. And it only got worse when the owner of the voice came into view. Oh, woe was me! One word...DAMN!

A/N: I do apologize for the whole "whose voice is that?" cliffhanger, seeing as my last chapter ended the same way..however, a writer's gotta do what a writer's gotta do...

Coming up next Saturday...Chapter 12! By the way, I plan on continuing this fiction until I run out of ideas or you guys get sick and tired of it!