Chapter 16

"Hermione, I can explain!" the red head attempted to get up, but having a full grown teenage guy on top of her didn't exactly help.

"Oh, I think this here," he pointed at their position on the sofa, "as an explanation for me," Draco teased while sitting on his unmade bed.

When he noticed the covers strewn about, he narrowed his eyes, "You two… you didn't…"

"Don't worry, Malfoy. If you're thinking that we were shagging on your bed, we didn't. We had it here on your couch," Ginny replied sardonically while she glared at the blonde.

Draco scowled and was about to say something offensive to the red head, but Hermione immediately stopped him.

"Er-… you wouldn't mind getting of my friend would you?" the brunette witch said to Blaise while trying hard not to laugh.

Without a word, the Slytherin immediately pushed himself off from Ginny.

"We can explain," Blaise faintly smiled while running his hand through his mussed up ebony hair.

The blonde started snickering, so Hermione threw a glare at him to shut him up. Draco complied, but silently laughed at his friend.

"Actually, I think we need an explanation with all this," Ginny motioned her hands towards Draco and Hermione, "not the other way around."

"Sorry Gin, but we asked you first," the brunette smirked.

"You're spending too much time with Malfoy," her friend joked, "I mean, look at that smirk! What did you do to her!"

"If you really want to know…" Draco drawled while suggestively looking at Blaise and Ginny.

The ebony Slytherin immediately stopped his friend. With a disgusted look on his face, he quickly said, "I really don't think we want to know."

He only shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and looked back at Hermione.

"Now, what's going on between the two of you?" the brunette raised a questioning brow.

"Absolutely nothing!" Ginny cried out but at the same time, Blaise had muttered, "Hopefully something?"

They immediately looked at each other in shock while the brunette had a knowing smile on her face. Even if she didn't realize anything about her love life, she was positive that Ginny and Blaise had something going on between them.

"WELL, breakfast is awaiting," Draco jumped up from his bed and started to walk towards the door.

When nobody followed him, he sighed and leaned against the side of the door with his head tilted back. He was peeved that they weren't going to breakfast, but didn't say a thing.

Nobody said a word until Ginny broke the silence.

"I think Malfoy's right. Let's go get breakfast," she muttered.

The red haired witch walked past Blaise and Hermione and slid past Draco in the doorway.

Hermione was only joking around, but now she was just curious. Why was Ginny trying to avoid the topic of Blaise? Anyways, she also walked out behind her friend.

"So now they leave because little Weaselette commands it? What do think I am, an insignificant cretin?" Draco had an astounded look on his face.

No one bothered to comment back.

The blonde Slytherin rolled his eyes and followed after Hermione.

Blaise sighed miserably and stumbled out the door.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Hermione caught up to Ginny outside in the halls. The red head didn't say a word while walking, so Hermione decided to not say anything either.

"Hermione, what am I going to do?" she immediately asked the brunette.

The other witch was surprised when her friend suddenly asked her a question.

"I … er- well…"

"Yeah, I know," was Ginny's reply while she stopped walking.

Hermione stopped as well and placed her hands on her hips.

"Ginny, what's really going on between you and Blaise?"

As if Ginny had heard something, she started to look around anxiously. When she realized that it was just her imagination, she sighed deeply, "This isn't exactly the right time to talk about it, Hermione."

Hermione rolled her eyes as the red head walked off without her. When Ginny was almost near the Great Hall, she turned around and faced where Hermione was standing.

"Are you coming?"

"In a sec, I'm going to wait for the guys," she told her friend while crossing her arms across her chest.

"Hermione, don't be like this!" Ginny said in an exasperated tone while dragging her feet towards the other witch.

"Be like what, exactly?" Hermione asked while narrowing her eyes.

Before Ginny could answer, she noticed Draco and Blaise walking towards them. So she kept her mouth shut.

"Ginny, be like what!" the brunette had a scowl on her face.

Hermione thought that Ginny was refusing to answer. So when Draco wrapped his arms around her waist, she jumped up from shock.

"Hello, luv," he mumbled into her hair.

The brunette laughed hesitantly and turned her head around to face him.

"Oh, it's you!" she feigned shock when she saw the familiar face.

Draco had a surprised expression on his face, "Who did you think it was?"

Hermione couldn't help but laughing at his reaction.

"WHAT!" he frowned.

"Stop that," she tapped his forehead with her finger.

He moved away from her touch and then grabbed Hermione's arms.

"You know if there's another guy, I don't have a choice but to go and beat the living shit out of him, right?" Draco growled.

"Draco!"

"So there is another guy. I knew it!" the blonde immediately released his grasp on her and started to pace around the hallway.

"Draco, I was just kidding," Hermione couldn't help but laugh at him.

Instead of listening to what she had just said to him, Draco kept on pacing around in the hallway, trying to think of the most satanic ways to destroy the 'other guy'.

When he still didn't stop pacing around, she yelled, "I. WAS. JUST. KIDDING!"

He immediately stopped, "Oh."

"Why did you think that there was another guy?" Hermione looked flabbergasted.

Draco looked down at his feet and mumbled, "Because of Potter's infatuation with you."

"Sorry, didn't hear that."

"I SAID…. because of Potter's undying love for you."

Hermione scoffed, "Draco, Harry doesn't love me. I thought we were completely over that topic!"

"I'm just worried that one day, you're going to suddenly realize that choosing me over him was a huge mistake."

"Is that it?" the brunette was so angry that he still thought that her best friend loved her but then she couldn't help but smile.

"And you're going to leave me for him. There, that's it," he quickly muttered.

Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head side to side vigorously. Without saying a word, she wrapped her arms around his waist.

"You stupid prat, I won't leave you for him," she said into his chest.

Draco was incredulous at first but then became very pleased. He tilted Hermione's face up to him with his finger and softly kissed her.

While the couple was busy with each other, Blaise and Ginny had a disgusted look on their faces.

"Go get a room!" Ginny said to them.

"That's repulsive," Blaise muttered.

"I know," the red haired witch agreed immediately. "I love her to death, but that's the limit for me."

"We should just go and eat breakfast," he said while walking towards the Great Hall.

"Right behind you," Ginny ran after the Slytherin.

Draco and Hermione immediately broke apart and started to walk towards their friends.

"Ginny!"

"Zambini, what are you doing over there?"

Blaise and Ginny immediately stopped where they were and turned around slowly.

"What!" the ebony haired Slytherin asked.

"That was rude of you to just go off like that," Draco scolded.

"Yeah? Well, it's rude of you to start snogging with your girlfriend when we're right in front of you two."

"You had your chance with her!" Draco nodded his head towards Ginny who turned bright red.

"She's not my girlfriend," he shot back, but with a hint of remorse in his voice.

Ginny had a queer expression on her face but didn't say a word.

"All right, mate. Whatever you say," Draco threw his hands up.

With that, the blonde placed an arm around Hermione's waist and started to head towards the Great Hall.

"I think there's something going on between the two of them," the brunette witch whispered to Draco.

"You'd have to be blind and deaf to disagree with that," Draco replied.

Once the Draco and Hermione were up to the entrance to the Great Hall, they stopped. They looked back at Ginny and Blaise, who were walking with an uncomfortable silence around them and with a huge amount of space between them.

"It's so obvious that they like each other!" Hermione exclaimed.

"It was so obvious that we liked each other in our earlier years, but did we do anything? No, but it turned out okay… somehow. So we should just let them decide on what they are going to do."

The Gryffindor witch raised a brow and with a serious tone, she answered, "And what makes you think that I liked you in our-as you phrase it-our 'earlier years'?"

Draco was about to say something in protest, but when he realized that Hermione was being a devious witch once more, he muttered, "Cheeky."

Hermione smiled widely while the blonde Slytherin led her inside the Great Hall. Although some of the students were blatantly staring and gesturing towards the couple, Draco and Hermione simply ignored them.

"I'd love it if you came and sat next to me," Draco sighed and released his grasp on her waist but then held both of her hands in his.

They were standing right in the middle front. On one side, there was the Slytherin's table, and on the opposite it was the Gryffindor's table.

The brunette smirked and sarcastically replied, "Oh yes, and then all the Slytherins will be so chummy with me."

"It's worth a shot," he hopefully responded.

She scoffed, "Draco, you and I clearly know about the hostility between our Houses. I can't just sit over at your table and you can't sit at my table without something happening."

He thought for a moment and then seemed to have come up with an idea, "Hermione, I know what you mean, but I don't think that the Slytherin and Gryffindor House problems should interfere with our relationship. So before you start protesting and such, I'm going to tell you that I will sit at your table this morning."

"Bu-"

"Oh, right," Draco cut off the brunette, "and no 'buts'."

Draco turned Hermione around and placed his hands on her shoulders. He then started to lead her towards the Gryffindor's table. This definitely caused a few more people to stare at them, mainly the Gryffindors.

"What the hell is Malfoy doing?" Seamus asked Ron and Harry.

"Beats me, mate," Ron shrugged his shoulders with his mouth wide open.

Harry immediately looked down at his food with his fingers tightening around the fork that he was holding when he noticed that Hermione and Draco were coming towards them.

Meanwhile, when Blaise and Ginny walked through the entrance, everyone who wasn't looking at Draco and Hermione quickly noticed another odd 'couple'.

"Oh. my. god," Pansy whispered gravely at the Slytherin's table.

At the same time, Lavender and Parvarti, who were sitting next to Harry and Ron, said the exact same thing, except they were happier.

"Hey Neville," Lavender nudged the boy who sat next on the other side of her, "I thought you and Ginny were together."

"Don't worry," he whispered, "we are."

Parvarti leaned over and muttered in her friend's ear that they broke up. The other witch looked at Neville in sympathetically.

'Poor Neville, he's still in love with her…' Lavender thought to herself.

Before the Ginny and Blaise separated to go to their table, the Slytherin grabbed the witch's hand.

Ginny looked down at his hand on hers and then looked back up.

"I-well… you see… did somebody ask you to the ball yet?" he blurted out while turning a violent shade of red.

"Blaise… I-"

"I mean, I would suspect that somebody else asked you already, but if nobody did, will you go to the ball with me?" he let go of her hand and then looked down at his shoes.

Ginny was so close to saying no to him, but she couldn't bring herself to.

"Sure," she sighed and then walked towards the Gryffindor's table.

Blaise's face immediately shot up, "Did you say yes!"

The red head turned around and nodded while biting her lower lip. The Slytherin brilliantly smiled and ambled towards his table.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Hermione," Harry whispered into her ear, "what the hell is Malfoy doing here?"

The brunette shot a glare at the green eyed wizard and sternly replied, "Harry, he's my boyfriend."

Without noticing that she had just called Draco her boyfriend, she continued on chastising her friend. Draco smiled at Hermione while she was arguing with Harry. Draco wasn't in the mood for eating anything, so he just grabbed orange juice and downed it all at once.

Ron, who was sitting right next to Draco, slowly edged away from him.

"Weasel, I'm not going to bite you," the blonde muttered with his back turned around Ron.

The red head immediately froze but he didn't exactly move back to his regular spot.

Draco rolled his eyes and shook his head side to side. He turned around to face Ron, "You should get used to Slytherins dating Gryffindors."

"I'm fine with you and 'Mione," Ron hesitantly replied.

The blonde sighed in frustration, "I meant Blaise and your sister, you twit."

Ron opened his mouth wide open.

Draco looked at him in disgust, "Close your mouth, Weasel. It's improper to gape at people like that."

The teenager did closed his mouth, but his eyes were practically bugging out of his eyes, "What do you mean by Ginny and Zabini!"

"Don't tell me you completely missed their little 'interaction'."

Ron quickly looked at his baby sister, who was sitting next to Lavender and Parvarti. His girlfriend and her friend were talking animatedly towards Ginny, but she didn't say anything. She was just playing with the food on her plate and looked quite dazed.

"She's going out with Neville," he muttered while running a hand through his hair.

"That twit is going out with her? I thought he'd never get a girlfriend."

"Well," Ron puffed out his chest and confidently replied, "They are."

"Right."

Draco quickly became bored talking to Ron, so he turned towards Hermione, placed an arm around her waist while pulling her closer to him, and then glared at the few Gryffindors who disapproved of him.

After breakfast was over, Draco and Hermione headed towards their classes as well as Harry and Ron.

The messy haired teenager glared behind the Slytherin's back. When Ron realized what his friend was doing, he placed a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Mate, you should really just let it slide."

"I'm surprised that out of all the people, you would be saying that. Do you not remember when Malfoy called you names and insulted your family!" Harry exclaimed.

"Yeah, but I let that slide by me when I realized that our 'Mione was happy. Although I'm not saying that Malfoy and I are suddenly going to become friends," Ron assured Harry.

Harry didn't say anything afterwards, but did think about what his friend had just said.

'Maybe I'm not ready to let her go…' he thought sorrowfully.

Meanwhile, Draco and Hermione were in a rather happy mood.

"I can't believe you sat at the Gryffindor's table in the morning," Hermione smiled.

"I can't believe that you're my girlfriend," Draco wrapped his arm around her waist once more.

Hermione looked down at his strong arm around her, "You know, you're a really affectionate person."

The Slytherin could only smile sheepishly, "What can I say? I'm deeply infatuated with you."

The brunette playfully hit Draco on the chest, "Infatuation leads to obsession and from what I hear, obsession is a bad thing."

"Really, how so?" the blonde leaned in and asked in a low and husky tone.

"Well, I don't know for sure-"

"So you're saying that you aren't obsessed with studying?" Draco raised a brow.

Hermione realized that this was a battle that couldn't be won, "Okay, fine. SOME kinds of obsession are bad, but not all."

"Then I say that it's a good thing."

"You are insufferable."

"Admit it, you love me," he tickled Hermione's side.

The witch squealed and twisted to get away from him.

"I'll stop as soon as you say that you love me," he explained in a humorous tone.

Hermione immediately shook her head side to side. Even though Draco had said that he wasn't going to stop tickling unless she told him that she loved him, he stopped.

"I thought that Malfoy's didn't give up so easily," she said.

"I'm tired," he gave a simple reply. 'No need to force her into saying that she loves me…'

When they arrived to their classroom, Draco had to separate with Hermione. Unlike most of their classes, Potions had assigned seats. Unfortunately, Draco was seated next to Neville, but Blaise kept most of his company. Hermione was seated next to Pansy and Lavender. Pansy wasn't horrendously annoying as she had thought, but that didn't mean that Hermione was excited about sitting next to her during class.

"I'll see you after class, luv."

Draco kissed her on her mouth unabashedly in front of all of their classmates. Hermione's cheeks flushed from embarrassment while she headed towards her table. She sat down with a small smile on her face.

Lavender wasn't sitting at the table at the moment, but Pansy was.

"Does he make you happy?" Pansy asked Hermione.

Surprised that the Slytherin witch was talking to her, she only nodded.

"Then, you're a very lucky girl to have Draco as a boyfriend," the black haired witch smiled warmly.

"Thanks," Hermione meekly replied.

And when she thought Pansy wasn't listening, she murmured, "I know I am."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

After Hermione's last class was over, she quickly rushed out of the classroom. Draco was practically on the other side of the school, and she wanted some alone time.

'Am I really that lucky to have Draco as a boyfriend? IS he even my boyfriend? Maybe I'm not ready for a relationship right now.'

The brunette was confused, she knew she liked Draco, but even if she did like him, something felt missing.

Hermione walked slowly as soon as she was out of sight from the other students. She exhaled deeply and trudged along.

The witch looked outside one of the many large windows and noticed that the sky was rather cloudy and looked like it was about to rain. Soon enough, a flash of lightening filled the sky and only a few seconds later, the roar of thunder was heard throughout the school. After a few more lightening bolts and thunder, the pitter-patter of rain beating against the windows was heard.

"Hermione?" someone called from behind her.

It was Ginny.

"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked the red headed witch who ran across the hall to catch up with her.

"I should say the same thing to you," Ginny replied.

"I felt- feel… suffocated, so I decided that I was going to take a walk around the school," the brunette admitted to her friend.

"I think I understand why you feel that way. It's because of Malfoy, right? I mean, yeah I understand a few cuddling here and there, but he is overly affectionate."

"No… I just have a strange feeling of being claustrophobic right now," Hermione sighed.

Ginny thought for a moment and then said, "Since it's pouring outside and there's nothing to do, I think I have the perfect plan. Come on."

The red head took her friend by the arm and started to head back towards Hermione's room.

"Just as long as you promise me that you will answer every one of my questions truthfully," Hermione forced her to agree.

Ginny rolled her eyes and said, "Fine, whatever."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Hermione and Ginny were lying on top of Hermione's bed in the Room of Requirements. They were on their stomachs at the end of the bed.

"Okay, since you promised me that you would answer every-"

"I know, Hermione. What do you want to know, exactly?" Ginny queried.

"You and Zambini," she simply replied.

"What about me and him?"

Hermione let out an exasperated sigh, "What happened this morning?"

"Oh… right."

"So tell me before I explode, what happened between the two of you?" Hermione sat up and grabbed one of her red pillows and then hugged it to her chest.

"It's a really long story…" Ginny immediately hesitated on answering.

"You promised," the brunette sang.

The red head scowled and told a gist of what had happened. When she was through, Hermione started to laugh.

"Are you kidding me? Neville… Neville LONGBOTTOM attacked you!" she said while laughing.

"It's not funny! And he didn't attack me, he just-"

"Forced you against your will?" Hermione answered in a teasing voice.

"Hermione!"

"Sorry, Gin. It's just really hard to imagine Neville being like that. He's always so quiet and extremely conservative," the brunette answered gravely.

Ginny nodded in agreement and then replied, "But I really can't believe I went out with him, you know?"

"Don't worry, your knight that's shining in green and silver armor will come and rescue you," Hermione joked once more.

The red head rolled her eyes and muttered, "This is why I don't tell you anything."

"Hmph."

"I still dote on you," Ginny said in a sweet voice.

Hermione rolled her eyes but smiled, "You are silly. Now, what else are we going to do now? You said you had a plan so what is it?"

"You haven't picked your costume yet, have you?" the red haired witch asked.

The other Gryffindor shook her head side to side, "I didn't have time."

"Then it's settled, we're going to pick out our dress, shoes, and accessories for the ball!" Ginny enthusiastically smiled.

Hermione had a concerned look on her face; she wasn't the exactly the type of person to enjoy shopping.

"Hermione, don't look at me like that!" the red head witch cried out.

"I'd be lying if I told you that I'm excited about this."

"Well you HAVE to get a dress, so just bear with me for about three or four hours."

"THREE OR FOUR HOURS!"

Ginny only smiled and brought out a catalogue from her book bag.

For the next two hours or so, the two Gryffindor girls were lying on Hermione's bed, picking what outfit they were going to wear. When both Hermione and Ginny picked a dress that they liked as well as the shoes and jewelry.

Hermione ordered a white duchess gown. There was a Juliet type of gown in the catalogue that they were looking at, but this one was what caught her eye the most. Ginny picked a pale blue ball gown with chiffon.

The next thirty minutes were used to find what shoes and jewelry they were going to wear. In the end, Hermione decided that instead of buying some expensive necklace and earrings, she would wear her heart shaped locket that her grandmother had given her and simple pearl earrings. Ginny, on the other hand was going for something elaborate. Her necklace was Victorian style filigree pendant that had a large amethyst stone in the middle.

Since the two of them spent more than they had imagined for dresses and accessories, they decided to wear silver ballet flats.

It only took fifteen minutes for the items to arrive. Ginny immediately slipped into her dress and stood in front of the mirror to admire it. But Hermione just placed the dress on her bed and smiled while she fingered the delicate lace on the sleeves.

"Hermione, aren't you going to try the dress on?" the red head asked while coming out of the bathroom and attempting to put her necklace on.

"I think I'm going to wait until the ball next week," Hermione answered while picking the dress up and placing it in her wardrobe. Ginny followed suit.

"Suit yourself. Well, do you think I look ravishing or what!" Ginny squealed while striking a pose in front of her friend.

The brunette raised an eyebrow, "Why? You want Blaise to ravish you?"

Ginny immediately blushed brightly while denying the accusation, "Of course not!"

Hermione smirked and was about to contradict her, but decided to not say anything.

"All right Ginny, whatever you say."

Hermione told her friend to stay here for the night since it was late and that Neville might be lurking around somewhere. Ginny frowned when her friend was joking around with what had happened yesterday.

So, the two Gryffindor girls got ready for bed. They both clambered onto the bed after Hermione doused the lights out.

"Hermione?" Ginny whispered.

"Yeah?"

The red haired witch was about to say something about Blaise, but then bailed out on the last second.

"G'night!" she muttered quickly.

The other witch just laughed softly and replied, "Good night, Gin."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"YOU!" a hooded man screamed at an unknown person in a dark room.

"Yes, master?" a man walked to him and bowed down low.

"You will make sure that everything is prepared for the attack. Also, you must get everyone else ready before. And make sure that she doesn't suspect a thing

"Yes, master."

The figure disappeared into the darkness while his master chuckled menacingly.

"Hermione Granger, I warned you, but you didn't take enough precautions. Now I'm coming for you."

OKAY, so maybe the dude doesn't really sound all that sinister right now, but ohhh you guys are in for treat when you find out who the person is! Sorry about the delay, I was really busy with .. yes.. VOLLEYBALL PRACTICES! YEAH! I made my freshmen team! I am soo happy :)

Anyways, if you want to find out what Hermione's and Ginny's things look like, comment me on my myspace, I'll give you the URL. My myspace is of krzybrunette92. All right?

By the way, I was wondering if we could put up lyrics in stories. I mean, other people's lyrics, but we give full credit to the band. Is that all right? I was so confused because I read this one story where the girl was spazzing out that she had put other people's lyrics so she started writing her own. I'd like to know about that since my other story that I'm writing has maybe a little lyrics in them.

rizahawkeye21 : this wasn't as long as the last chapter. I don't know how I made it so long for chap 15, everything just flowed out for me. hahaha
Lain in the Wired : HEY NEW REVIEWER! Thanks, I'm really trying to get every mistake while I'm editing.
Seldom Darlin : Every now and then we need something SCANDALOUS. Shhh! I forgot that Neville was Ginny's boyfriend until I read some of my older chapters. I had to make him weird.. he IS weird. lmao
eddie1891 : I appreciate that you are going through a lot to review my story :) I hate it when fanfiction throws a hissy fit when I'm trying to login.
dracoshott28: lol thanks... I thought the whole Ginny and Blaise was pretty funny in the ending. Can you just imagine Draco jumping over a couch. (sigh) I've never really liked Neville, so I made him weirder than usual. :P
FitzNotDitz : hey there new reviewer! Yeah, just imagine hollister's jake or abercrombie cologne. yummy. Yeah, half-blood prince, I didn't really like it. I remember that I read something about Dumbledore dying in one fiction in the same EXACT way.. kind of scary if you think about it.
rowlinghermione : mwahahha...yes maam, neville IS a perv.

Until later...

xXx33 susie