Author's Notes

I'm in the midst of reading HBP for the third time and I was reading the chapter, a few days ago, about Slughorn's Christmas party. This idea just came to me…enjoy! Oh, and if you don't understand any of the events in this story, reread Chapters Fourteen (the last two pages of it, at least) through Fifteen (until Harry leaves the party). Now, for real, ENJOY!

In any other situation, Hermione would have laughed at what she had just done to Ron. It really was rather humorous when you think about it; she had never harmed Ron intentionally before and, while sending an angry mob of canaries to attack him wasn't exactly life-threatening, it was rather amusing.

However, as Hermione brushed away her tears, she could not think of anything that could make her laugh at that moment. She knew for a fact that Ron fancied her ever since third year. To think that he would snog the prettiest girl he could get his hands on just because of some irrelevant row with Hermione made her choke in sobs all over again.

Hermione did feel a tad bit of guilt about leaving Harry in there with the pig himself, but then she remembered that Ron was not angry with Harry, only her. She could not even remember why Ron was mad at her, but that didn't seem to matter anymore. She could no longer invite him to Slughorn's party. This thought slightly depressed her and she dejectedly headed back to the common room, feeling a little better at the fact that since Ron was still in the classroom fighting off canaries, he would not be in her plain eyesight snogging the life out of Lavender Brown.

On the way back to the common room, Hermione stopped in a girls' lavatory to freshen up her appearance a bit. She didn't care about looking pretty, but she didn't want to look like a used towel either. She slipped into the restroom unnoticed and glanced at her reflection in the mirror.

She stifled a gasp at the utterly abysmal person staring back at her. This girl, who looked so alike her, yet so differently, had her bushy, brown hair appallingly pointed in all directions, as though she had just been electrocuted. Her eyes were red and puffy, with the blood vessels showing profoundly in the whites of her eyes. Her cheeks held tracks of tearstains. She was overall disgruntled and it showed very clearly in her appearance.

Hermione, after registering that this person was, in fact, herself, hastily brought out her wand to clean herself up. She started with her hair; she did not mutter a spell to soften it, but she merely transfigured a sink handle into a hairbrush. She didn't believe in hair-care spells (the Yule Ball was an exception!) so she just grabbed the sink-handle-turned-hairbrush and pulled it through her hair. Though there was some obvious difficulty, considering how unstable her hair had always been, she managed to make it look normal within a good five minutes. Next, she Scourgifyed her face to remove the markings of her sobs. She felt as though a plunger was sucking her face, but the unusual feeling was only momentary. Lastly, she had to fix her eyes. She uttered a spell she had learned in first year around the time of the troll to remove puffiness and all obvious signs of crying. It worked then, and to her delight, it worked now as well.

After ruffling her clothes a bit to look as though she had not been in any uncomfortable situation, she left the lavatory and headed for the Gryffindor common room.

When she was met with the Fat Lady's portrait, she said the password and was greeted with a very full common room. She gave the room a once-over and saw no sign of Ron or Harry. Figuring that they were still in the classroom (and hopefully Harry was lecturing Ron), she sat down on a miraculously empty armchair. Apparently, she wouldn't be able to get any homework done (the Quidditch Success party was evidently still in session and would be for awhile), so she settled for just scanning the room, watching the many cliques.

Suddenly, a thought popped into her head. She still had to find someone to invite for Slughorn's Christmas party. Her eyes wandered through the many small hordes of people. She noticed a group of giggly fourth year girls, who were chatting animatedly about Harry. She smirked until her eyes moved onto Lavender and Parvati. She felt resent freeze up inside of her but tried to ignore the temptation to hurt the formerly mentioned. Hermione then looked at the males in the room — the ones who were above fifth year, mind you.

When she didn't seem to find anyone satisfactory, a somewhat evil, un-Hermione-like, vengeful thought struck her. I should go with someone who'd annoy the socks off Ron! Not many Gryffindors could really accomplish that, and Slytherins were most definitely out of the question. All the Ravenclaws she knew were kindly toward she and her two best friends, as were the Hufflepuffs. However, she remembered one in particular who had succeeded in annoying Ron, Harry, and herself the year before. His name was Zacharias Smith, or something similar.

However, one memory of him was enough to drive that thought away. It'd be wonderful revenge on Ron, but she wasn't sure if she could handle an entire night with the arrogant blonde. Shaking her head in distaste, she thought of her options. There must have been at least one non-Slytherin, above-fifth-year, not-Zacharias-Smith, annoying person who she could go with!

When her eyes unconsciously moved onto someone celebrating only half-heartedly in the common room, her face lit up. Of course! How could she have forgotten?

With a sickly sweet smile so unlike her own, she sauntered across the common room where Cormac McLaggen was huddled with two of his friends. Only one of them looked truly happy; the other two were sullen.

As Hermione ventured closer, she distinctly heard Cormac mutter to his friends, "We'd have won faster if I was keeper, but that Weasley is Potter's best mate —"

"And hers," said one of his friends apprehensively, pointing at the approaching Hermione. She pretended not to hear.

Once she was rather close to the three boys, she smiled flirtatiously at Cormac (she didn't know she could smile flirtatiously!). She saw, with disgust, that the happy friend — who was holding a Firewhiskey at the moment — was staring at her with something that she did not wish to identify.

"Hello, Cormac," she said pleasantly, conjuring a stool and sitting on it in, placing herself in between Cormac and his other sullen friend.

"Hermione, isn't it?" he asked, looking her over. She nodded, still smiling and revealing her lovely white teeth.

"Yes, that's right," she purred, blatantly ignoring the fact that she had Confunded him to prevent his placement on the Gryffindor team. Oh, the favors she'd do for Ron, and look where she ended up…

"Well, hello, Hermione," said Cormac, ostensibly proud of himself for getting her name right. He also seemed cheerful that she hadn't smacked him for plainly insulting her best friends. While she wanted to stick up for them, she had something to accomplish, and she had to do it before she lost her nerve.

"How are you doing tonight?" she asked conversationally, scooting as close to him as her stool would let her. She was still shocked at herself for doing what she was doing.

"We're fine," his jovial friend answered, and Cormac snapped his eyes off of Hermione and seemed to realize for the first time since Hermione's arrival that he was accompanied by two friends.

"Hermione, this is Kody Bell — you may know him, he's Katie Bell's younger brother?" Cormac introduced.

"Only by ten months!" Kody interjected and Hermione chuckled.

"Hello, Kody," said Hermione, bending over to reach his outstretched hand with her own. After a kind smile, Cormac introduced his next friend.

"And this is Nelson Baudelaire; he's also a seventh year, like me and Kody." Hermione offered her hand to the boy, who was undeniably handsome, but somewhat surly and unpleasant in that way where you could tell just by looking at him.

"It's a pleasure meeting both of you," said Hermione in the voice that was undoubtedly not truly hers.

She suddenly heard the portrait hole close. Casting a furtive glance but only seeing Luna and Ginny, she relaxed but became more aware of the time (Hermione wondered how Ginny convinced the Fat Lady to let in a Ravenclaw, but smiled nonetheless).

Turning back to the boys who were all looking at her, especially Cormac and Kody, she realized she'd better get down to business before Harry — or worse, Ron — returned.

To the smiling Kody and expressionless Nelson, she said cheerfully, "It was wonderful talking to you two, but I was wondering if I could possibly borrow Cormac's company for a moment?"

While Nelson made no move to acknowledge the fact that he had heard her, Kody nodded and winked at Cormac, who had formed a rather excited smile. He left his seat and, when he thought Hermione wasn't looking, flashed a thumbs-up to his friends.

Dragging him far enough to not be overheard, yet not far enough to make a scene, Hermione looked up at him. Being a year older than her, he was slightly taller than she was. He had lovely hair and a nice, charmingly handsome look about him. The only turnoff was that he seemed to know he was good-looking and therefore gained an over-arrogant confidence.

"Well, Cormac," said Hermione, looking away and interlocking her hands which suddenly seemed very interesting, "I was wondering if you had a date to Slughorn's party?"

Even though Hermione thought she had been obvious, Cormac seemed genuinely surprised that Hermione had asked him that question. Either way, he responded, "No. So far, I'm going alone."

"Oh," Hermione said, trying to gather all her Gryffindor courage (after all, her vengeful plan on Ron would hardly work if she was turned down), "Well then, I don't suppose you'd want to come with me, would you?"

Cormac's face broke into a smile, revealing a smile almost as impressive as her own. His lit-up eyes dancing, he said, "I'd love to, Hermione! As a date, right?"

Hermione hadn't considered this, which was pretty ignorant of her. Ron wouldn't get jealous if she was going with him as merely friends, so she said sweetly, "Of course, Cormac. Wouldn't go with my boyfriend any other way, right?"

If possible, this little comment made Cormac even happier. "Of course not!" He leaned down, kissed her on the cheek and waved goodbye as he headed back to his friends, who were both evidently watching the exchange for they had their heads turned in her direction until Cormac resumed his spot with them and began chatting to them while smiling brightly.

Now that her accomplishment was finished, she decided to head up to the girls' dormitories to get some sleep. Just as she reached the staircase, she vaguely heard the portrait hole snap closed and saw jet-black hair and glasses. Smiling to herself, she ascended the staircase.

-------------------------------------------------------

The night of Slughorn's party arrived sooner than Hermione had expected. She and Cormac had agreed to meet at the Entrance Hall around 8 o'clock and head to the dungeons together. Currently, at seven-forty-five, she was adding the finishing touches to her look.

She was wearing a beautiful sky-blue gown. She saw some very appealing dress robes that she could have worn, but she honestly preferred Muggle formalwear. She had to admit, as she saw her reflection, that the gown didn't look half as nice in the store as it did actually on her. She had merely wanted something inexpensive and decent. However, when it rested on her body, it hugged every curve she hid beneath her school robes. It was even more amazing than her Yule Ball dress. In this dress, she felt like somebody totally different. The gown reached her ankles, where it flowed out a bit. A golden, lacey sash rested around her waist, sleeves, and neckline. Her sleeves were three-fourths full. The dress itself was tight, but not uncomfortable.

She was apprehensive about doing her hair. She decided in the end that if it was untamable she would cast a spell on it, only for this night, since it was a party. However, surprisingly, she was able to tame her hair and cast it into a curly ponytail with some rebellious tendrils framing her face. She wore no makeup unless you counted chap-stick.

When she decided that she was ready, she closed her trunk, made her bed, and checked her watch that she had taken off (it clashed with her outfit). It was seven-fifty-two and Hermione realized that she had better leave to meet Cormac.

Upon arriving at the Entrance Hall, she spotted him. He was very tall, so it wasn't exactly hard. However, she had to admit that he looked very nice. Sporting black, clean dress robes, with a tint of plainness but still very classy, he too seemed to get lucky with his hair; it wasn't so wiry anymore. He was not looking at her; he was talking to that one Kody kid who was wearing normal attire since he was uninvited to the party.

It was Kody who noticed her first. He looked at her, smiled, nudged Cormac, whispered something, winked, and finally Cormac's head turned. When he saw her, his face literally lit up with pleasure. Hermione noticed vaguely that Kody's did as well.

She reached him and he swooped down and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She noticed with extreme satisfaction that Ron was passing unaccompanied by "Lav-Lav". She smiled at Cormac, which gave him the idea that she enjoyed his little greeting, though really she was happy at the look of disgust and annoyance intermingled on Ron's face.

"Shall we go, then?" asked Hermione, looking between Cormac and Kody. The latter nodded, nudged Cormac one last time, and walked off, smiling at Hermione. She managed a small smile back.

Cormac offered her his hand. Hermione noticed that it was very veined and masculine. She took it with her own, smaller one and together, they walked hand-in-hand to the dungeons.

When the arrived in merely the corridor of the party, Hermione heard blasting wizard's music. While she had always preferred Muggle music, she felt her unoccupied hand tap her thigh in the tune that was playing.

They entered the door and Slughorn came bustling over to them. He was accompanied by two men. One was gaunt and pale, while still holding class. The other was tan and, for lack of a better term, normal-looking.

Slughorn seemed to acknowledge Hermione first. "My dear, Miss Granger!" he said, patting her shoulder affectionately. "You look lovely tonight, I must say!" He smiled at her and she thought it'd be appropriate to smile back.

Winking at Hermione uncomfortably (in her opinion), he turned to Cormac. "Well, hello, there, Mr. McLaggen! Scoring some luck with our Miss Granger, I see, eh?" He, like Kody, nudged Cormac in the side, who was beaming profusely. "It's not often two members of the Slug Club come together, but I suppose if the fancy fits…"

He trailed off while Hermione blushed. Slughorn then seemed to notice that he was accompanied by two men, for his mouth formed a soft O and he turned to his side.

"Miss Granger, I'd like you to meet Eldred Worple," he pointed to the tan man, "and his friend, Sanguini. Boys, this is my best sixth-year student, Hermione Granger. Surpasses almost the entire school, save a few seventh years! Shame you weren't in my house…"

Worple looked positively delighted at meeting the most intelligent witch at Hogwarts. "Well, hello there, Miss Granger! May I call you Hermione?" Without waiting for an answer, he continued. "Wow! Smartest witch at Hogwarts? By Merlin…"

"Best friend of Harry Potter as well," added Slughorn, beaming at Hermione as though she were a potion for weight-loss.

Worple's eyes seemed to pop out of their sockets with excitement. "The Harry Potter? You're his best friend, you say?"

"Yes," said Hermione, slightly uncomfortable. She seemed to look it as well, for she felt Cormac reassuringly squeeze her hand. She also noticed that Sanguini was a vampire upon further inspection.

He, meanwhile, didn't say anything. He merely looked at Hermione hungrily, his eyes feasting on the sight of her silky, bare, exposed neck. He leaned down for a moment, as though to bite into her flesh, until Worple, who seemed to notice his friend's lust for Hermione's neck, held him back.

"You must be well-liked, then," said Worple unexpectedly to Hermione after wearily warning Sanguini to behave. At Hermione's confused look, he added, "Intelligent, best friend of Harry Potter, pureblood…"

"Oh, no, I'm a Muggle-born," Hermione interjected fiercely. Worple seemed astonished at this news. Slughorn smiled.

"Yes, I suppose there is an unusually exceptional one in each batch," he said. "Look at Lily Evans…"

You don't say something like that to a Muggle-born, you walrus! Hermione thought angrily; however, she urged a smile onto her face. "Yes, I — er — suppose…" Desperate to change the course of conversation, she said, "And this is my boyfriend, Cormac McLaggen…"

Worple seemed hesitant to end his conversation with Hermione but hearing that Cormac was her boyfriend, he turned his eager eyes onto her companion. I cannot say the same about Sanguini.

"Yes!" said Slughorn enthusiastically, and Hermione was grateful for the change of spotlight. Slughorn eyed their intertwined hands and smiled. "Cormac here is a seventh year. Very, very close to joining the Gryffindor Quidditch team —"

Cormac seemed to want to scowl, but plastered a smile for the sake of first impressions. Hermione, meanwhile, blushed, for it was her fault that he hadn't made the team. Slughorn seemed to mistake this as a blush of shame, for he said jovially, "Now, now, Miss Granger, just because he didn't make your team doesn't mean he isn't otherwise talented! He's very handsome, though I suppose you've figured that out yourself, yes?"

Hermione was now very embarrassed. Smiling sweetly, she turned to the boy whose hand she held in her own. "Cormac, this is a great song, would you like to go dance?"

Cormac, who was currently grimacing at Slughorn's words, caught on immediately and seemed more than willing to oblige. He turned to the three men in front of him and said, "Nice meeting you two, but Hermione and I are going to go dance. Thanks for the invite, Professor," he added as Hermione hastily dragged him off.

Hermione could swear she heard Slughorn say, "Those darn youngsters and their little crushes," while Sanguini stared after her until she whipped out of sight.

"Thank you," said Cormac the moment they had escaped the men.

"It's nothing, really," said Hermione modestly. Then she grimaced. "In all truth, I hate this song."

Cormac laughed. "I agree. While I prefer Wizard music to Muggle, I must say that the latter has better Christmas songs." Suddenly he became nervous. "Er, Hermione, do you want to dance?"

Hermione, who had merely used dancing as an excuse to leave Slughorn, considered this. Even though Ron wasn't here to become even more jealous, she did say she was Cormac's girlfriend now and the least she could do was spare him a dance.

"I'd love to," she said and she moved next to him. He placed his right hand firmly on her waist, if not a little lower. She thought nothing of it as she grasped his left hand in her right and placed her own left hand on his shoulder.

Together, they swayed around to the soft, Christmassy music. While Cormac's dancing was a little aggressive, Hermione overall had a pleasant time in his arms. It wasn't until the mistletoe decided to fall atop them that things got a little ugly.

"Hermione," Cormac whispered. She lifted her head off of his shoulders and looked at him.

"Yes?"

"There's mistletoe above us," he said rather cheerfully. Hermione looked up, and when her face moved back into its original position, Cormac's lips were on hers. At first he was tender and careful. However, he soon became hungry and forceful as he lashed his tongue at her lips, resolving in their opening. He slipped his tongue into her mouth eagerly while she prodded his chest to get him to back off. She did not like this newfound fierceness and finally pried him off of her.

"What in the name of Circe was that?" Hermione asked angrily, wiping her lips as the mistletoe floated away.

"I'd been under the impression that that was a kiss," said Cormac, looking a little disappointed at her lack of enthusiasm.

"It was face-eating, more like," Hermione muttered. Turning away from Cormac, she said, "I'm getting drinks. I'll be right back."

Hermione really did go to the refreshment stand. She contemplated, while sipping her butterbeer, whether she should go find Harry and Luna and avoid Cormac or if she should just forget about his disgusting, pig-like kiss and try to have a good time with him.

She wanted to find Harry and Luna, but she didn't think she'd be able to avoid Cormac forever. For instance, if she somehow succeeded in losing him throughout the entire dance, she wouldn't be able to avoid him afterwards, when they were back at school. Or even when they left for break; she'd probably get tons of owls over Christmas…

Yes, sorting things out with Cormac right now was definitely the better option.

Grabbing a second butterbeer for Cormac, she marched back to the spot where she had left him and saw him standing nervously against the wall. He was tapping one foot on the floor and had his head in his hands.

"Cormac? I got you a butterbeer," she said in a more cheerful tone than when she left him.

"Oh God, Hermione, I'm so sorry," he said in response, hastily grabbing the butterbeer and running a hand through his hair. "I shouldn't have done that to you…I'm sorry."

"Oh," said Hermione, not really knowing what else to say. "I—don't worry about it, Cormac. Come on, drink your butterbeer, and I want to dance again!"

Looking considerably better now that he had her forgiveness, Cormac practically inhaled the drink and led Hermione by the hand to the dance floor.

As Hermione re-situated herself in Cormac's arms, she glanced around the party. Slughorn and his two cronies for the night were currently watching Harry and Luna dance. It wasn't until Worple gathered enough courage to walk up to the pair and wrench them apart to talk to Harry that the two realized their surroundings.

Hermione smiled. She knew that Harry and Luna would never work out, for she could just tell that Harry fancied Ginny and Luna fancied…Neville…or…Ron…or something. Turning back to Cormac, her smile broadened and she let him whirl her around in a rhythmic twine to the music.

After a few more songs, mistletoe positioned itself before the pair again. This time Hermione was going to take the lead. Before Cormac could even tell her about it being above them, she leaned in, on her tiptoes, and planted a soft kiss right on his cherry lips. He gasped in a pleased surprise, and Hermione slipped her tongue between his lips. Together, their tongues tangled into each other's and they tasted the scent of their partner's mouth.

When Hermione left the party three hours later, her hand was still occupied by a certain someone who started out as revenge and turned into something much, much more.

Needless to say, she was in a rather good mood.

Hehe, I thought this was cute! I noticed I haven't seen one Cormac Hermione story, though it occupies almost a whole chapter in HBP. This popped into my head, and I hope you liked it!

Cheers & Love,

Cheez It