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Chapter 7 - Friends, best friends, and boyfriends

"Umm . . . Phoenix?"

Hermione turned around to see a very timid looking Ron walking towards her in the hallway. "Yes Ron?"

"Could we go somewhere more private?" he asked.

". . . Sure . . ." Hermione followed him to a quiet corner. 'Oh Ron, please don't do something stupid and impulsive!' she thought. 'I might not have the heart to say no . . . or yes depending on the circumstances.'

He stood fidgeting nervously.

"Yes? What is it?" asked Hermione in apprehension.

"Well, you see, I know we've only just met and all, but I feel like I've known you for much longer than that. You're not like everyone else because you say what you mean and you seem to tell it like it is. I feel drawn to you for some reason, and if you'd give me the chance, I'd like to find out why that is," Ron concluded.

"So what exactly are you saying?"

Ron ran a hand through his hair nervously. "Well I was kind of hoping that you would um . . . go out with me . . . I mean, there's no strings attached or anything and if you don't want to that's cool too. So . . . what do you say?"

"Can you give me a minute?" she asked, and at his nod turned around and thought about it. 'Well, I could say yes, I mean I am supposed to move on with life and be a different person and not give myself away and saying no might be a dead give away that I still think of him as a brother and not like a boyfriend. And besides . . . Ron and I did have some kind of chemistry even though it's not the same kind, but . . . I guess that's okay.' Hermione nodded decisively, turned back around, looked at him in the eye, and took a deep breath.

"You're answer's no isn't it?" asked Ron hanging his head sadly.

"I didn't say that Ron! Please don't make assumptions about me, I am easily offended by that. Of course I'll go out with you . . . on a trial basis like you said because you don't know me as well as I know you . . . or if you'll like me when you know me that well."

"Okay great! Well . . . see you tomorrow, and sleep well," he said waving to her and heading up to Gryffindor Tower.

"Goodnight," she said after him. 'What am I getting myself into?'

She walked out slightly dazed and walked into Draco . . . literally

"Hey! Watch it - oh Phoenix sorry about that," he said upon seeing who she was. "Hey is there something wrong? You look like you've seen a quintaped or something."

"No I'm fine . . . just dazed at running into you . . . nothing big," Hermione shrugged it off. 'Actually I just said yes to Ron, but I can't back out now . . . I'll let him break things off, he'll get tired of me soon . . . whenever that is,' she thought to herself.

"I have a question for you," he said looking around noticing that the hall was empty.

"Yeah?" Hermione asked apprehensively hoping against all hope that Draco didn't act as impulsively as Ron did.

"Well . . . you've never been to Hogwarts, so do you even know how to get to Ravenclaw Tower?"

Hermione let out a relieved sigh. "No I don't."

"I'll show you where. I know where all the Common Rooms are, and their passwords because of my being Head Boy and all. Padma would take you but she had some duties to attend to first, so Dumbledore asked me to lead you there."

"How thoughtful of him."

"Yeah . . ." they walked on in silence. "Hey Phoenix?" he asked after a while.

"What is it Draco?" she asked curiously, hoping that Draco was a safe person to be around because he wouldn't try to make a move on her.

"Do you happen to like quidditch?" he asked.

"Well, Hermione and I would always talk about quidditch . . . you couldn't stop that girl from reading about it when she got books upon books about it; and when she started talking about it, there was no shutting her up. She kind of rubbed off on me. So in answer to your question, yeah I like quidditch."

"Did you know there's openings on Ravenclaw's team for seeker, beater, and chaser?" he said in interest.

"And?" she replied flatly.

"You could try out for the quidditch team since you like it so much," said Draco as though it were really obvious.

"One problem with your little theory though . . . I've flown a broom maybe twice in my lifetime . . . I can barely fly!" she exclaimed as they drew near a stone wall.

"This is your stop. I could give you flying lessons," said Draco eagerly.

"Why would you want to help someone whose in an opposing house?"

"Because you're my friend," said Draco sincerely.

"Really?"

"Well, yeah. I wouldn't be this open to anyone I didn't consider a friend. Hell, none of my 'friends' know half as much as you do aside from Blaise, so I guess I could say you're one of my best friends even though we've only known each other less than a day."

"Wow . . . I have a best friend already. Didn't see that one coming," she said also adding mentally, 'I didn't see myself having a boyfriend and a new enemy either, so I'll just go with it.'

"Neither did I. Oh, your password is wisdom," he said and watched as the wall slid away to reveal a dark blue room with dark maple wood and copper embellishments. "Kind of reminds me of my Common Room. Well, this is where I leave you. Good night Phoenix," he said as he headed in the other direction.

"Goodnight Draco," said Hermione watching his retreating back. Then she walked into her Common Room and was greeted by Terry Boot.

"Hi you're the new girl aren't you? Nice to finally meet you in person, I'm -"

"Terry Boot. Pleased to meet you too," Hermione said shaking his hand. "I'm Phoenix, but folks back in Arizona called me Dallas."

"Would you rather we called you that?"

"Umm . . . yes since I'm living with all of you guys it'd be nice to be on friendly terms. So yeah, call me Dallas."

"Okay, I'll let everyone else know. In the meantime . . . girls' dorms are on the left. I'm not sure which room though but they're marked so you'll find it," he said as he walked towards a group of friends.

So Hermione went up the stairs and to the left. The seventh year room was the second door she saw. She entered and was greeted by her three roommates.

"Hi you're Phoenix aren't you? Well I'm -"

"Lisa Turpin. And you're Mandy Brocklehurst, and Sally-Ann Perks. Am I right?" she asked addressing each one respectively. "Yeah my name is Phoenix, but would you guys mind calling me Dallas? My friends back in Arizona did."

"Oh yeah sure. Say, how did you know our names Dallas?" asked Mandy.

"Well, as Headmaster Dumbledore said, I am or rather was Hermione Granger's foster sister. She told me all about absolutely everyone. Naturally that's a lot of people, but I eventually figured out who was who."

"I didn't know that Hermione knew me . . ." said Sally-Ann confused.

"Oh, well she did . . . she kinda figured she had to know everyone because of DA," Hermione explained.

"She told you about DA?" asked Padma Patil as she walked into the girls' dorm.

"Well, yeah, she told me about everything that wasn't secret. Like that horrible Umbrige lady was all she talked about for like a week after her fifth year. I hated the lady and I never even met or knew her," she said with a shudder.

"That woman's name is almost worse to say than you-know-who's . . ." said Lisa in agreement.

"Well on to a happier note. We still have 45 minutes for girl talk," said Padma excitedly.

All the girls gathered onto Mandy's bed and talked about lots of things. Then the talk turned to boys.

"Now it's time to make our annual list of the top ten hottest guys our age or older. Oh, Dallas we started a tradition in first year to name the ten guys we think are really hot and the pin the list on the wall . . . kind of a group bonding thing to see how our tastes change over the years, and we write it down no questions asked, and you can name as many or as few guys as you want, just so long as you explain the reason somehow," explained Sally-Ann.

"Okay, I'm game," said Hermione pulling out her wand and summoning a quill and parchment, while feeling thoroughly offended that they were calling guys 'hot', but she wouldn't let that get in the way of possible friendships when it wasn't that important.

"Number one is most definitely Draco Malfoy. No doubt about it! I mean look at him, he's soooo hot, no questions asked!" said Mandy dreamily.

1 - Draco Malfoy

"Number two should be Blaise Zabini . . . Draco's totally dreamy best friend," said Sally-Ann.

Hermione almost laughed at the statement about Blaise being his best friend, when he had just explained that to her.

2 - Blaise Zabini

"How about Ron Weasley for third? He's so sweet and so totally cute! Did you see the way he looked at me during dinner? He was so totally checking me out! Oh, I wish he was my boyfriend!" sighed Padma. Hermione's quill froze, but she wrote it down quickly before the other girls would notice.

3 - Ron Weasley

'Too bad it was me he was looking at Padma . . . I was right next to you, but I'm not going to say anything.'

"I thought you didn't like him after the Yule Ball. But oh well! In that case, we have to put Fred and George Weasley on the list. True, they don't attend, but they're here like every week to sell their stuff and they are heroes in their own right since they were the main people involved in getting rid of Umbrige," said Lisa pointedly and shuddering at the hated woman's name.

"Do you want them together?" asked Hermione.

"Oh no, George first cause he's sweeter, and that's much more important than humor because Fred's the funnier one."

4 - George Weasley

5 - Fred Weasley

"Hey what do you guys think of Su Li for sixth, I mean he's got that whole tall, dark, and handsome thing going on this year," said Sally-Ann.

'Oh my goodness, if I hang out with them too much longer I'll become a mindless twit just like they are!' thought Hermione sighing internally.

6 - Su Li

"I know how certain people hate this person, but you can't say that Harry Potter isn't hot, he was Witches Weekly's most shaggable bachelor this summer," said Mandy mainly to Hermione and Padma who looked disgustedly at Mandy.

7 - Potter

"We need to put Terry on there. He's been looking good lately," said Padma.

8 - Terry Boot

"We also need to put Ernie Macmillan, because he's my boyfriend, and if he's not hot, then he's in big trouble," said Lisa.

9 - Ernie Macmillan

"So that means the number ten spot absolutely has to go to Snape! He's so hot and mysterious, with that long black hair and the tight black outfit on his perfectly lean and muscular body, with those robes that swish whenever he walks . . ." said Sally-Ann in a dramatic sigh, like it was a big secret, which she had just been dying to tell. The other girls giggled and nodded in agreement.

10 - Professor Snape

'Oh. . .my. . .God. . . I can't believe that they think my uncle is hot!' Hermione thought in complete revulsion. 'Looks like she's getting hot just thinking about him . . . eww!'

Padma grabbed the list and pinned it up next to the six other lists (,which Hermione made a mental note to look at,)and then said, "Lights out girls! Good night!"

"Good night Padma," they said, then she left.

In ten minutes, every student in Hogwarts was sleeping except for two . . .