Peeps that reviewed -
Tulips and Jill: Yes, Ron gives me a hard time, but hey, what's not to like?
flip chick: Okay!
Elizia: Hmm...Hr/D? Did I ever give such a strong hint? Hmm...
Reanne1102: Sure. I don't think, though, that you've seen my newest chapters.
Not Your Sort: Chapter 5:
Once back in the common room, she slapped herself inwardly and glanced around at some of her colleagues, studying, chatting, or sleeping.
She found Harry and Ginny on the couch, staring off into the fire in front of them and talking. She grinned, remembering their little relationship last year. It's great how Harry pulled off the seperation, at the same time, keeping them friends.
She fell down on the couch next to Harry, sighing deeply.
He turned slightly and said, "Hey, Hermione, finished with studies already? Oh, and I'm sorry for running off and leaving you two like that. I, uh, couldn't really take that stuff anymore."
Hermione nodded happily and replied, "Yes, I've studied for all my classes and finished the Potions essay. You could say, even, that I'm ahead of studies. I've done all projects that will be assigned next month. Don't ask how. I don't know." She held up a hand to them, laughing.
Harry looked at her again, "What's that on your cheek?"
Hermione touched the area on her cheek that Harry was pointing to, "What? Where?"
Ginny sat up, "Hermione! You're bleeding!"
Hermione scoffed when she saw her hand. Indeed, she could see red droplets of blood on her finger. She ran up the stairs to her dormitory to wipe it off – just before Ron Weasley came in through the portrait hole. He, too, went to his dormitory without a second thought.
When she reached the bathroom, Hermione looked at herself in the morror, wiping her cheek with a handkerchief. The she noticed that she didn't have a wound anywhere on her face. Whose blood was that?
This puzzled her as she walked back down into the common room, to meet Ginny and Harry again.
She sat on the couch once more, as Ginny looked at her, "What happened, Hermione?"
Hermione shook her head, "I have no idea. I'm not even sure that that blood was mine..."
At the exact same moment, Ron ran into the room, then finding the three of them on the couch, approached them, "Harry, what in the world is this?" and pointed to a fresh scab on his cheek, still bleeding.
As Harry looked, his jaw dropped, and slowly, in harmony with Ginny, he turned to Hermione, eyes as wide as saucers.
"Hermione?" Ginny asked curiously.
The witch turned to her friends with a sheepish smile and said, "Would you look at that!"
And then she sat back against the couch once more.
The other two snorted and Harry looked at Ron in a jolly manner, "I have no idea, Ron. You tell me."
Ron rolled his eyes and stormed back into his dormitory. Hermione was red and didn't look at her friends in the least way. She wanted very badly to not be there.
She stood up, still not looking at them, and left through the portrait hole. She walked into an empty classroom and closed the door slowly, leaning her back on it heavily. Then, as she sighed heavily, she laughed her heart out, never stopping for breaths. Then, when it felt like her stomach was tied in a knot, she stood up straight and opened the door, coming straight face to face with her planning partner, Draco Malfoy.
She stepped back, frightened, when he said coldly, "What are you, a prefect, doing here?"
She looked down and answered, her voice quivering, "That's none of your business. And, as prefect yourself, I thought you were supposed to be walking the corridors?"
Hermione rolled her eyes, "Move, Malfoy. I've already done my job. And now, I'm getting myself some sleep. Move it." She pushed past him and quickly walked to the portrait hole. She breathed the password and just as she was about to go into the common room, Malfoy's deep voice called out behind her, "We should get started on the ball schedule."
Hermione's posture softened and she swiftly turned around to face him.