I've finally updated. I hope everyone likes the new chapter, it's one of my longer ones.

Big thanks to lyrabelaqua for being my beta and cleaning up my grammar.

A huge thanks for everyone who's either read and reviewed or read the story.

I'm supposed to be the soldier who never

blows his composure
Even though I hold the weight of the whole

world on my shoulders I ain't never

suppose to show it, my crew

ain't supposed to know it
Even if it means goin' toe to toe with

the Benzino it, don't matter
I never drag them in battles that

I can handle, less I absolutely have to
I'm supposed to set an example,

I need to be the leader,

My crew looks for me to guide 'em
If some shit ever pop off I'm suppose to be beside 'em
Eminem- Toy Soldiers

Hermione stared at Malfoy's closed door before a knock pulled her attention to the main door of the common room. She sighed and glanced back at the ferret's door before she made her way to see who was there.

"Hey, Hermione." Ron stood in the doorway shuffling his feet.

"Hello, Ron." she answered with a smile, "Would you like to come in?" she asked as she stepped aside.

"Um...okay." he said after a long silence.

When he passed by her, Hermione saw the tip of his ears turn a pale pink. She smiled at him when he was fully in the room and the pink turned to a flaming red. She closed the door and gestured him to sit in front of the fireplace. Ron looked around to where she was nodding and sat down.

"What are you doing here Ron?" she asked when he stared at her.

"I've been wondering..." he started, only to be interrupted by the slamming of the bathroom door.

The two Gryffindors looked over to the door to find Draco standing there, arms crossed in front of his chest, and a glare set firmly in place.

"You could have used the door in your room, Ferret." she spat at him before turning back to Ron, who was now standing and slightly in front of her.

Hermione studied Ron while Draco began to speak.

"What are you doing here, Weasel?" the Slytherin hissed at Ron.

"That's none of your business, Ferret." He threw back through gritted teeth. Although Hermione couldn't see his face, she could tell his jaw was clenched; it almost always was when Draco was in the room.

"That's where you're sadly mistaken, Weasel. It's my common room as well." the blond answered as he joined 2/3rds of the Golden Trio. "If I don't want you here, I can make you leave."

"Not if I want him here." Hermione said, stepping up to Draco, no longer afraid of what he'd do to her; if he hit her he'd lose head boy.

"Don't get so close to him, Hermione. You could get infected." Ron said when she stood toe-to-toe with the enemy.

"Stay out of this, Weasel." the aforementioned enemy threw at Ron.

Hermione glared at Malfoy and then backed down from the snake. Grabbing Ron's hand, she dragged him to her room and slammed the door.

"Hermione, you can always go back to the girl's dormitory in the tower." Ron assured her, glancing around her room as if to see how long it would take to pack all of her things.

"I'm fine, Ron. Don't worry." she let him know while placing a hand on his arm. "Really, he can't do anything to hurt me." she added when he didn't seem convinced.

"I don't like it, Hermione."

Hermione frowned at the tone of his voice. He sounded like her father did when she'd first gotten the letter from Hogwarts.

"Ron, I'm fine." she tried again.

Ron crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a hard stare. Hermione rolled her eyes and walked over to her bed and flopped down.

"What did you want, Ron?" she asked after throwing an arm over her eyes.

"I wanted to ask if you would..."

"Granger?" Draco said, coming through the door.

"For the love of... Malfoy, go away." Ron said, glaring at the intruder.

"It's my right to be here, Weasel."

"Not in 'Mione's room." Ron yelled.

"Ron, don't." Hermione warned, her hand once again going to Ron's arm.

"Why are you in here, Ferret?" Ron asked.

"I had to speak to Granger."

"Then do it and get out." Ron ordered still glaring.

"Shut up and get out Weasel."

"Malfoy leave. We can talk later." Hermione intervened, seeing that the two boys in front of her were close to fighting...but over what? "Just go and we can talk later." she repeated when he stared at her.

"Fine. This isn't over Weasel." He answer answered over his shoulder, halfway to the bathroom.

"Hermione, now that there will be no more interruptions," Ron started with a pointed look at the now closed bathroom door. "I was wondering if I could ask you a question."

"You've said that already, Ron." Hermione pointed out.

"Oh...um...do you want..." He trailed off and Hermione strained to hear what he had said.

"What? Honestly, Ron, if you want to ask me a question just ask me." she noticed his face turned as red as his hair.

"Would you go to Hogsmeade with me?" he asked clearly as he lifted his chin.

Hermione was surprised by his question. She'd heard he liked her but he'd never treated her any different so she thought it was just talk. She watched as he watched her, nervously placing his weight on one foot, then the other.

"Yes." she answered as a loud crash came from the other side of the bathroom door.

"What the hell was that?" Ron asked as he stalked to the door and flung it open.

Draco was sprawled on the bathroom floor, staring up at Hermione with a hurt expression.

"It's not my fault you fell over." she snapped before he could say anything to her. She knew his expressions well by now.

"I wasn't going to blame you anyways." he shot back as he stood and brushed himself off. "It's just like a Weasley. Scraping the bottom of the barrel to get a date for the weekend." The blond prince of Slytherin said with disgust before storming off into his own room.

"Was he listening to us?" Hermione asked, more to herself then Ron, who answered anyway.

"Of course he was. It's just like a ferret to go and listen to other people's conversations."

Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron and walked out of the bathroom, wondering why Draco was listening in the first place. She heard Ron follow and turned to face him.

"So I'll meet you in the court yard, Friday?" Ron asked with, what seemed like, a shy look to Hermione.

"Yeah, Friday." she agreed and was surprised when Ron leaned forward and kissed her cheek before leaving her room. A smile slowly formed on her face as she replayed the scene with Ron over in her head.

"Granger?"

Hermione sighed and turned to face the open bathroom door. "What do you want?" she asked, the newly formed smile slipping from her face.

"We have a meeting on Friday. An all day meeting." he informed her before turning to go to his room again.

"No we don't." she called after him.

"Yes we do. Dumbledore said we can call emergency meetings whenever they were needed." Draco informed her without stopping.

Hermione followed him into his room and glared at him as he sat on his bed. She haddn't heard Dumbledore say a single thing that even suggested emergency meetings.

"He said no such thing." she countered.

"You weren't listening when he said it." He answered back, sounding like the prat he truly was.

"I was listening to every word he said and he said no such thing."

"Then you can explain to him why you skipped a meeting going to Hogsmeade." the blond said smugly, knowing she hated to miss anything concerning head duties. "I'll see you on Friday." he threw into the silence before he turned around and left her room, hopefully for good.

"Bastard." she muttered under her breath. He was getting weirder and weirder as the days went by.

Hermione thought about what to do. She had to talk to Dumbledore about the supposed meeting but, knowing the headmaster he would likely agree with Draco in saying it was a perfect time for a meeting. She had to talk to the ferret no matter how much she didn't want to.

"Malfoy?" she called, sitting on her bed. He didn't answer. "MALFOY!" she yelled, knowing he'd heard her the first time.

"What?" he answered, not showing up in her room like she'd expected.

"Wait a minute." she said, mostly to herself, as she made her way through the bathroom and into his room, where he laid lazily on his green silk encased bed.

"What?" he asked again as he threw, what looked to be, a replica of a snitch from his left hand to his right.

"We can't have the meeting on Friday." she stated, giving him her best glare.

"Yes, we can and yes, we will." he answered with a bored tone. He didn't even glance up at her so the glare was useless.

"No, I have plans on Friday. We can do it Saturday."

"No, we can't, I have Quidditch practice. We're doing it Friday." he answered smoothly.

"I can't do it on Friday." she insisted.

"Weasel is more important than your head duties?" the blond asked with surprise.

"What? No, I... what I do is none of your business! You made up that meeting to keep me from having a life. Just because your life is for crap right now doesn't mean that you have to make everyone else's life miserable." she exploded at him. "What is your problem anyway?" she demanded when he just stared at her.

"I don't have a problem. I happen to believe that Head duties are number one to everything."

"Except for Quidditch practice?" she shot back in a cool tone.

"Shut up." was his only answer.

"I'm going to Hogsmeade this Friday." she said stubbornly.

"Fine, then we can go together. We can shop and talk about head duties at the same time." said the sudden multi-tasker.

"You know I'm going with Ron." she said through gritted teeth.

"And now you're not. You either go with me or you don't go at all." He didn't even blink when she let out a frustrated sigh and stomped her foot on the floor.

He'd given her a choice, but she didn't like either one. What was with him? He didn't even like being in the same room with her, how was he going to act when the walked side-by-side along the crowded streets? He was being unreasonable.

"Just move the damn meeting." she demanded while storming up to his bed and snatching the golden snitch, that he'd been tossing the entire time, out of the air. "At least look at me when I'm talking to you." she hissed at him.

He looked surprised at her actions but the look on her face must have warned him not to speak.

"I have something to do but if you insist on making it difficult, turn about is fair play. If you want to have the meeting then you're going to walk around with Ron, Harry and me at Hogsmeade. I don't want to hear any excuses. If you don't like it then I suggest you keep it to yourself, suck it up, and paste a smile on your pointed face." she berated him while moving closer. They were mere inches away when she stopped her rant, as Harry and Ron had often called 'her speeches'.

Draco stared at her through eyes as big as saucers before he leaned forward to join their lips. She was too surprised to pull back... at first.

"What the hell was that?" she questioned after tearing her self away from him while wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

"I don't know." Draco's voice showed his amazement. "I accept your terms, Granger." he said after a moment of silence.

Hermione stood rooted to the spot for a minute before she made her way back to her room. 'Malfoy, Prince of Slytherin, just kissed me' she thought to herself 'and I liked it.' she finished before a stunned silence fell over her. "Ron and Harry are going to hate me for this." she groaned, not knowing if it was for letting Malfoy tag along with them, or enjoying a kiss with the enemy