Yes---another looooooooooong time with no updates D: I'm sorry, guys! Lotsa stuff going these days. Well, anyway, it's summer, so I will be able to update rapid-fire! Hopefully. Now, getting on with the story!

Chapter 23

Regular story form

Hermione moaned and put her head in her hands. 'Well, that went…well…' she thought, and sighed. She sat down at one of the library tables and ran her fingers across the rough wood. 'Guess it's not a secret anymore.'

There was a plunk as someone sat next to her. "Let me guess. You told them, right?"

Hermione glanced up at Draco witheringly.

"Thought so." He said. "How'd they take it?"

Hermione shrugged.

"Well, that's better than horrible."

She shrugged again. Well, not really. The words read over her head.

"How so?"

I have no idea how they took it. One second they were furious, the next, calm. It's really confusing, and I don't know what to do.

"But that's why you have me!"

Hermione raised her eyebrows. That's the problem.

"I'm a problem?" Draco pouted.

Not necessarily.

"But still a problem?"

Maybe. Probably. Most indefinitely.

"That's a real confidence booster."

You're welcome.

Draco rolled his eyes.

So how'd Blaise and Pansy take it?

"Surprisingly well. They took it better than I expected any Slytherin to."

That's good.

"Yeah, I know. They're not mad, or anything. Just kind of confused and stuff. But for Blaise, that's normal, so I guess it went perfectly with him."

Hermione grinned. He was always slow, that one…

"Definitely."

Hermione's smile drooped. You're sure they won't hate me?

"Completely. Blaise and Pansy aren't like that. They're good people."

Really?

"I promise."

Hermione sighed in relief. That makes me feel a lot better.

"Good. Don't worry about how people will take it, okay? If they don't accept it, they're not really your friends."

I guess.

"C'mon, let's get back to the Heads' dorm. I'm getting hungry."

Hermione looked at him, shocked. You just ate!

"I'm a boy. I get hungry. Now let's go."

You're just like Ron.

"I'm not sure whether to take that as an insult or a compliment…"

Just leave it where it is and don't worry about it.

"We'll leave it here in this library, because we're leaving too. For food!"

She rolled her eyes. You're so weird.

"Why thank you very much. Now let's GO!"

Okay, okay, I'm coming, I'm coming. Hermione stood, and grabbed her bookbag. Suddenly there was a loud rip and a cascade of books fell onto Draco's foot.

"OUCH!" he yelled, and snatched his foot away. "Why are you carrying around all that crap?"

Hermione frowned and gathered up her books. They're not crap!

"Whatever. Let's go."

Hold on. One fell under the table.

"Let's…go! Depart! Exit! Set off! Leave! Disappear!"

Hermione stared at him. Draco…are you feeling okay?

"What, I'm not allowed to use synonyms?"

This just caused her to stare more. You know what a synonym is?

Draco crossed his arms. "YES, as a matter of fact, I do! Did you really think my parents were going to let me grow up with no grammar education whatsoever?"

Hermione just shook her head. Let's go.

"Finally!" Draco threw his hands up in the air and followed Hermione through the small portrait hole in the wall.

…

Meanwhile, Harry, Ron, and Ginny gathered in the common room, sitting in a cluster of chairs by the fire. They stared into the fire, eyes glazed over.

"I can't believe it," whispered Ginny. "Hermione and Malfoy. It's the most unlikely pair in the history of forever. People would LAUGH if they heard that they were going out. It's like saying that Luna Lovegood should marry Snape."

Harry made a repulsed face. "Ew."

"I don't get it!" said Ron angrily. "Why did she suddenly decide that Malfoy was 'friend material'? It makes no sense. He never gave her a reason to even trust the first thing out of his mouth, and now…" He shook his head.

"It's really weird," admitted Ginny.

"But he seems to make her really happy," put in Harry. "Maybe we should let Hermione make decisions on her own."

"How do you know he's making her happy?" asked Ron. "He could've just told her to say that!"

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think Hermione would be THAT intimidated by Malfoy?"

"Um…maybe…" Ron stammered, then slapped his hand on the table. "But that's not the point! What if she really doesn't like Malfoy?"

"But what if she does?" Harry pointed out wisely.

They elapsed into silence and thought hard. If Hermione really didn't like Malfoy, why was she lying? And if she did…why did she? Either way, there seemed to be a problem, or at least something that none of them were comfortable with. This had never happened before. Why did it have to happen now, just when things were going so well…

Ginny sighed. She couldn't believe that this whole relationship had started under her nose and she didn't know it. She felt so stupid. She should've known that this was going to happen. No two people could be stuck as roommates for a year and not become friends at the very least, and when the two people were a boy and girl…well…it was pretty much obvious that something was going to start between them. Ginny berated herself for not realizing it sooner.

Ron put his head in his hands. He never saw anything coming. The whole year had seemed so planned out. Then Ron clenched his fist. He would never like Malfoy, that's for sure. But for Hermione's sake, he decided to try to make an effort not to insult the bloody git every time they crossed paths.

Harry, surprisingly, was quite calm. He shrugged and thought that what Hermione wanted to do was what she wanted to do. It was no use trying to stop her. That would only result in the friendship of years to be destroyed, and he didn't want that. The only to do was to let things play out and see what would happen. He knew that Hermione could handle whatever she was getting herself into, and he resolved not to tamper with her life. God knew it would end up bad for anyone who tried, he thought and smiled to himself.

"There's nothing we can do about it," said Ginny finally. Ron nodded grimly in agreement and Harry shrugged.

"I figured as much," Harry stated. "Nothing can change Hermione's mind when she's determined."

Ron winced. He had once tried to do so, and it had ended up…badly…to say the least. "Yeah. But what do we do? I know that I, for one, can't just stop hating Malfoy. It's like asking a zebra to get rid of its stripes."

Ginny thought hard. "We can keep hating him-"

Ron perked up. "We can?"

"Yes. But we've just gotta lower the insult level. Don't automatically say something when he walks by; wait until he starts it. Then we have a valid excuse."

Harry grinned. "Sounds good to me."

Ron rubbed his neck. "I guess…" He sighed. "For Hermione. Not for Malfoy."

"For Hermione," they chorused, and headed to their dorms.

…

Hermione yawned and rolled over. She looked at the ceiling and hugged her pillow. The first day that her friends knew about her and Malfoy. She didn't know whether to be worried or not. She got up and got dressed quickly. Should she avoid her friends, or would that just screw things up? She didn't know. 'This is going to be one of the most confusing days of my life,' Hermione thought wryly.

Making her bed, she grabbed her wand, pocketed it, and went down in the small common room. She looked at the clock. It was 5 am. She buried her face in her hands. Great. She walked over to the mini bar and got a hot cup of cocoa. She cupped it in her hands and sat on the couch with the steaming mug. She stared into the flickering fire. What could she do to make things easier between her friends and Malfoy? They couldn't just re-meet. Even if she went back in time and tried to change things (which she KNEW would be against the law, but just in case she tried it), there was no positive guarantee that things would turn out any different. She sighed.

Maybe some type of get-together…something with a positive atmosphere. After all, Christmas was coming up. Hermione sat up instantly and snapped her fingers. That was it! A Christmas party! She grinned. She would invite some people from her house like Harry, Ron, Ginny, Parvati, Lavender, Seamus, Dean, Neville, and Draco would invite some from his. This was perfect!

She grabbed her mug and walked up to her room, humming. She instantly grabbed a sheet of paper and began planning.

…

Yeah…so another long time since an update. I'm so sorry! Summer ended up being busier than I expected. Don't hurt me!

…

Anonymous Review Column

Princess Lilly Flower- You got me there. I didn't realize that Sherlock was a muggle thing at that second. Sorry about that.

Charisma- Actually, that's where I got the idea. So I guess it's a mix of two stories. I Can't Tell You was an amazing book.

Frenchtoast5984- Thanks!

Okay, so now that that's done…I have a favor to ask of you guys. Any of you who are sorta new…I'd really really appreciate it if you didn't leave a review for each chapter. It's okay if you did, but just don't do it again.

Wait. I mean, if you just started this story today. And you see that there's twenty-three chapters, don't leave a review for each one.

THANKS!

:Mel: