All right everyone, I send my most humble apologies. Words cannot express how terrible it has been for me to be separated from the wonderful world of FF, but sadly I have had no other choice as my sophomore year of college has been pure hellish distraction. Homework upon homework has had me book ridden for weeks. I admit that there was about a month before school started that I hadn't posted, and sadly there is no explanation for that, however, had I known school would be this crazy, I would have posted this long before I started classes.

Once again I do send my most humble apologies, I hope you accept, and continue to read this story. I will try to update more frequently but there can be no guarantees, sadly. I have a huge exam this Monday, so I may not be able to write for another week or so, but I will do my best.

Before I begin, however, I would like to once again thank my beta, Cherbi161 for being SO AMAZINGLY COOLTASTIC and helping me sort through all these damn snargles with continual helpage through use of asspads. :-) Thanks for being the coolest beta EVER!

Enough of my rambling, here is the next chappie. :-)

Hermione lay on her bed later that night sobbing into her pillows. She was frustrated to no end, because of many things, but mostly because of the fact that she was spending yet another evening in her dormitory crying. What was wrong with her? She couldn't understand it. First Draco was confusing her by acting interested and then insulting her, and now Ron, the man she thought she could trust above all others, had confessed his love for Pansy Parkinson…

Earlier in the year she might not have been as disturbed by this confession as she was now. But the simple fact that Ron had led her on that entire year and then turned around and done something so completely against the way he had been acting shattered her trust in him. She no longer knew what to think or who to trust.

She lifted her head off of her soft, silk pillows and sniffled loudly. She wiped the tears from under her eyes with the edge of the oversized t-shirt she was wearing. She finally knew who she could talk to about this and she was surprised at herself for not thinking of him sooner.

She hurried out of her dormitory and made her way to the hospital wing to find Harry. She hadn't seen him since the day before when Ron had taken him to Madame Pomfrey, and because of this Hermione was sure Madame Pomfrey would let her see him, even if it was slightly later than the nurse usually preferred.

She was right of course. All she had to do was be her charming self, and the tears in her eyes caused Madame Pomfrey to take the stern look off her face and let Hermione in. Harry was awake when she stepped up to his bed, and he smiled at her brightly when he recognized her.

"Hermione, it's about time you came to see me," Harry teased. The smile slid off his face when he noticed Hermione's expression. His eyes flew from her chapped lips to her red puffy eyes "What's the matter, Hermione? Is it Malfoy again? You really need to stop worrying about him, he doesn't do anything but cause trouble."

"It's not Draco," Hermione sniffled, smiling in spite of herself. "It's Ron."

Harry looked at her strangely. To be perfectly honest, he was confused. He had seen the two of them lately and how they acted around each other. He had always known about Ron's feelings for Hermione, but lately he had been detecting some feelings on Hermione's part as well. If this were the case, what could be the problem? He waited for her to go on.

"He's in love with Pansy," Hermione burst out, looking at Harry for his reaction.

He stared at her for a moment, not sure he had heard right. "Pansy?" he repeated in utter confusion and disbelief. "Pansy Parkinson? What makes you think that?"

Hermione explained the story to him and he listened with interest. When she finished he was silent for a moment, still thinking. He looked up at Hermione intently.

"That can't be right," he said quietly.

"What do you mean it can't be right, Harry, I heard him say it!" Hermione said, frustrated.

"No, Hermione," Harry argued. "I know he's not in love with her because he's in love with you. He's told me so a million times. Something's wrong. If he's in love with Pansy… no, Hermione, I think this has something to do with Crabbe and Goyle attacking me. Pansy must have done something to Ron. You said they were working together in Potions today?"

"Yes," Hermione said, finally realizing something. "Do you think… do you think she slipped something into the sleeping draught?"

"That's my guess," Harry said. "Is there some way we can find out?"

"I'll go to the library first thing tomorrow morning," Hermione said excitedly. With Harry's explaination and reassurance she began to feel extremely better, and a little bit foolish for thinking that Ron would have anything to do with that cow Pansy.

"I'll join you," Harry said. "Madame Pomfrey is letting me out tomorrow morning after breakfast. We'll find something to help Ron."

"Thank you so much, Harry," Hermione said, swooping down and hugging her friend. "I knew I'd feel better if I came to see you. You're the best."

"Just make sure she's there tonight," Pansy said, massaging Draco's shoulders as she whispered into his ear. Draco rolled his eyes. He still couldn't figure out how she had managed to get in his room in the first place, but she had done so about 15 minutes ago while he was taking a nap. She was straddling his back at the moment, and although he did enjoy the feel of her thighs against his sides, he had been enjoying his nap until she interrupted.

"She'll be there, Pansy," Draco drawled irritably into his pillow. "Stop worrying."

"I'm not worrying," Pansy snapped. "Even if I were worrying, it would be for good reason. I am beginning to doubt your intentions for the mudblood."

Draco tried to turn his head to look back at her but decided it was too much effort. "I don't understand what you mean," he mumbled. "I have nothing but the worst of intentions for Hermione."

"Hermione?" Pansy spat, disgusted. "You call her by her first name?"

Draco was unsure of how to answer this. He had called her Hermione, there was no way he could deny that, but he couldn't even understand himself why he had done it. "I have to treat her with respect to her face," he said uncertainly. He knew that his answer was less than mediocre. "I have to practice, so I don't slip and call her mudblood to her face. That would ruin the entire plan."

"Whatever you say, Draco love," Pansy said doubtfully, sliding off his bed. "I am going to collect the Weasel. Remember. Don't be late."

Draco looked out of the corner of his eye as he heard the portrait close to make sure she had really left. He sighed to himself and turned over so he was lying on his back, his icy eyes closed. He ran his fingers through his hair, ruffling it into a delightful blonde mess. He honestly didn't know what to think of Hermione. He had to admit she was beautiful but it was hard to reconcile himself to this considering he had hated her for so long.

Besides, he was suspicious of why she had been so accepting of his advances lately. If he had dared to spank her the previous year, he was certain that she would have hexed him a dozen times before he would have been able to take a single step. She must be up to something. That was the only explanation. He smiled to himself.

"Who's seducing whom?" He wondered aloud, with a smirk.

Hermione rounded the corner that led to her room and saw none other than Draco Malfoy standing outside, leaning beside her portrait. She raised an eyebrow at him and waited for him to explain his presence.

"Granger," Draco said, nodding at her.

"Malfoy," Hermione replied. "Now that we're done acknowledging each other's presence, would you care to explain yours?"

"Well, to be perfectly honest, I was rather hoping we might go for a walk," he answered, giving her his trademark smirk.

"Why do I not trust you?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"I have no idea," Draco said smoothly, taking her hand in his and leading her back the way she had come from. He held her arm firmly against his chest, running his fingers across her skin in circular motions.

"What exactly is it that you want?" Hermione asked. She tried to ask it in a friendly way, remembering her plan, but her voice still sounded angry. Draco looked at her, amused.

"Simply the pleasure of your company," he answered, continuing to lead her along the dark corridors. "We haven't spent enough time together."

"We've been working together in potions," Hermione pointed out saucily.

"True enough," Draco agreed gallantly. "However, I was hoping we could spend more time together on a personal level, rather than simply business."

"Why the sudden interest, Draco dear, after so many years of arguing?" she asked, looking him straight in the eye.

"I find your attitude slightly hurtful," Draco said, placing a hand over his heart in an attempt to look pained. "And if you'll pay closer attention, you'll realize that this interest really isn't all that sudden. We've been quite civil almost this entire school year."

"Civil?" Hermione scoffed. "Is that what you call you using me and me kneeing you in the nuts? Because that's not the word I would typically use to describe our particular attentions towards each other."

Draco laughed softly. "Perhaps civil isn't the right word after all," he conceded, and squeezed her hand lightly, almost lovingly. "Friendly competition sounds much more like our situation, do you agree with that?"

Hermione smiled and looked down at her feet. "That I do agree with," she said softly.

"I have noticed another sort of attention though, more of a tension, I suppose," Draco said caressingly, coming to a stop. Hermione looked up at him as his arms came to rest on her hips. "A very deep, intense anxiety between us, very heated, very passionate." He stared deeply into her eyes, teasing her almost. "Tell me you don't feel it too." He roughly but passionately traced the front of her throat, causing her to lean her head back, partly to keep from choking and partly out of pleasure.

This sort of rough stimulation excited her, she enjoyed a challenge, and she wanted to see how she matched up to Draco Malfoy physically. She met his fierce gaze, and returned it with equal aggression. He brought his lips forcefully onto hers, and within moments she felt a rush of his blood in her mouth. It tasted like heaven.

The two were awakened out of their semi-violent reverie by noises similar to those they had been making moments ago. Hermione looked over to see what the ruckus was and felt her heart drop into her stomach when she saw Pansy and Ron stumble into the corridor, Pansy's hands unzipping Ron's pants.

Hermione felt like screaming, she felt like hitting Pansy, Ron, or both. She was so confused, moments before she had been taken in by Draco's sweet seduction, but in this moment all she could think of was Ron with that slut. She turned out of Draco's arms, he followed her all the way back to her room, occasionally reaching out and trying to slow her down, to hold on to her and tell her she would be alright, but she always wrenched out of his grasp. Finally they reached her portrait and she scurried in, slamming it shut behind her so he could not enter.

He sighed and leaned against the wall outside their portraits. Of course he had brought her to that place on purpose, he had to stick to the plan or Pansy would be extremely angry, and possibly write to his father, which might put Hermione in danger. Why did he care if Hermione were in danger? Not even he could explain it, but there was something about her lately. Something about the way she smelled, walked, tasted…

He shook himself of these thoughts and entered his dormitory. The tunnel between their rooms crossed his mind briefly, and he considered going over to her room to console her, but decided against it. She was in one of her moods, and had obviously not wanted to discuss it with him, so Merlin only knew what she may have done to that tunnel to ensure he wouldn't be coming through any time soon. She would talk to him when she was ready. In the mean time, he would just sit back, wait, and try not to care too much.

The next morning, as promised, Harry accompanied Hermione to the library. They pored through books and books on love potions, trying to discover definite symptoms, and if it would even be possible for someone to slip it into another potion without changing the quality of the original potion. Hermione was becoming more and more depressed by the minute and Harry had no idea what he could do to calm her down.

"I just don't understand!" Hermione practically shouted, slamming a book shut. Madame Pince sent an evil glare her way, and Hermione immediately quieted down. Harry suppressed a smirk and returned to the book he was looking through.

"Hey, what about this," he said, pointing at a passage. "'The Love Potion is specifically designed to be indistinguishable from any other potions. It can be brewed so that it takes on the same color, density, and other physical attributes of any liquid that it is distributed into. This ensures that neither the potion drinker nor anyone around will know that what is being consumed is not completely what it appears'."

"Well that answers our question," Hermione said, brightening up a little bit. "It is definitely possible that she slipped a love potion into the sleeping draught, but we still have no proof."

"We aren't finished looking yet," Harry said soothingly. "We may still come across something. And if we don't find any definite proof we can always slip her some veritaserum." He grinned wickedly at her and Hermione couldn't help but laugh, rewarded by another angry look from the librarian.

"Come on, let's get some lunch real quick," Hermione whispered. "I know you well enough to know you think better on a full stomach."

"Hey now, who found that passage about the love potions…" Harry said, grinning at her. Hermione laughed and the two of them headed to lunch. He loved seeing her smiling again. It had broken his heart when she had come to him crying two days in a row. It had happened again this morning, right before he was released.

Hermione had rushed into the hospital wing in tears once again, and explained the whole story to him, even though he didn't understand most of it through her sobs. He got the gist though, something about Ron and Pansy getting frisky in the same corridor where she and Draco were doing the very same thing. That thought amused Harry, but he tried not to show it. He cared about Hermione very much, and could understand why she would be very confused at the moment, but it was still interesting for him to try and comprehend her womanly emotions.

They sat down at the Gryffindor table and began to eat. Harry saw Hermione's eyes wander over towards the Slytherin table where Pansy and Ron sat in a seemingly permanent lip-lock. He rolled his eyes and patted Hermione's back gently.

"About that Veritaserum…" Hermione said quietly, giving Harry a determined look. He raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you up to raiding Snape's potions cabinet again?"

"For supplies?" Harry asked doubtfully. "Why don't we just see if he has it already brewed?"

"He would notice that missing," Hermione argued. "This way it's less obvious, and will create less suspicion. It's less likely he'll notice a few supplies missing."

"True," Harry conceded. "All right, well you have to keep him distracted."

"Agreed," Hermione said with a smirk.

The next day in Potions Hermione delayed putting her supplies away until everyone else had already done so. Draco looked at her strangely and opened his mouth to say something, but she cut him off.

"I just have a quick question for Professor Snape, Malfoy," she said sharply. "Nothing you need to worry about."

Draco shrugged and walked away. Hermione had been very distant the whole class period, mostly staring off at Pansy and Ron. He had to admit, it was making him sick too, but she really just needed to get over it. He had never had a problem distracting women before, why was Granger so different? It seemed like he had her exactly where he wanted her, and then she went off about Ron again. This plan was a bit harder than he had originally thought.

When everyone had finally left the room, leaving Hermione and Snape alone, she stood up and walked towards his desk, swaying her hips gently as she did so. Snape looked up at her warily, unsure of how to react to this strange behavior from one of his least favorite students.

"Can I help you, Miss Granger?" he asked coldly as she reached his desk.

"Yes, actually you can, professor," Hermione said throatily, bending over the desk and staring intensely into his eyes. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Harry sneak into Snape's supply closet and smirked to herself. "I have a question about… love potions."

"Love… potions?" Snape said uncertainly.

"Yes, love potions," Hermione continued. "I was just wondering, aren't they nearly imperceptible to detection from other liquids? For example, they can camouflage themselves, correct?"

"They can be charmed to do so, yes," Snape agreed hurriedly. "However I would not recommend trying anything, as you can get in a lot of trouble for-"

"Oh relax, professor," Hermione said with a wicked smile. She walked around the desk and placed her hands on his shoulders, massaging his back. "You're so tense, Severus."

"Miss Granger, I really don't think-" Snape began, trying to get away from her. Hermione saw Harry peek out of the supply closet as if ready to leave. Snape began to turn in that direction and Hermione forced him back on the desk, massaging him even harder, giggling at Harry's dropped jaw.

"Don't fight me, Severus," she whispered hotly into his ear. She motioned Harry with her eyes to leave. As soon as he disappeared into the hallway, she removed herself from Severus. "Fine, you're no fun." She pouted at him, and skipped out of the room, leaving an awed and disturbed Severus Snape behind her.

Now, I have heard from my beta, who heard from one of her reviewers that thanking the reviewers seperately is no longer allowed. Anyone's input on this situation would be much appreciated, I feel terrible for not thanking each and every one of you, since you have continually supported me through this story, but if it's a new rule, I'm afraid I must stop, or they might delete my account, and I'm not sure, but I think that might upset a few of you. :-( So if anyone has any information on that, please let me know.

In the mean time, I want to thank you all… I suppose together… for the wonderful reviews you have left me, you guys are amazing, amazing writers and people. Thank you so much for your reviews, I appreciate them, and hope to hear more from all of you. :-)

Another chappie up ASAP. Love to all!